


Scottish Week-end

by AgentOfShip



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Scotland, Secret Relationship, Sexual Tension, Smut, milton is an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-10-31 17:34:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 42,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10904190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentOfShip/pseuds/AgentOfShip
Summary: Jemma and Fitz are two competitive colleagues who can't stand each other... Until they find themselves being respectively maid of honor and best man at the same wedding and fate (or the cosmos) forces them to spend some time together. Soon, they start realize that they have more in common than they thought and that maybe they don't hate each other that much after all.





	1. Airport

**Author's Note:**

> This story is another repost from FF and it is actually the first fanfic I ever wrote and the first story I wrote in english. Basically, it will be the exact same story with just a few new lines here and there, a more diverse vocabulary and a better grammar. I'm posting the first five chapters now and as I finish re-reading and re-writing it a bit, I'll probably post one chapter everyday until the story is over!  
> Enjoy you'll enjoy it and as always comments are most welcome :)

"Wow, even when I try to leave the country, you have to follow me."

Jemma recognizes the very distinctive and irritating Scottish accent the moment he starts talking. When she looks up, she is met with his equally irritating grin.

"Oh yes Fitz, I've just missed you so much for the last few hours that I had to follow you to London!" she retorts sarcastically.

"Glad to hear you admit it, Simmons." He says, looking proud of himself.

She's about to tell him how funny she thinks he really is but the people behind him seem to grow impatient so he moves on to get to his own seat, a satisfied smirk on his face for having the last word on it. That's just her luck! She was anticipating not having to think about work for a few days, this being her first vacations in months, and now she has to spend a six hours flight with her most annoying coworker.

Fitz had started working at Sci-Tech only a few months ago but had already managed to be a right pain in the arse. When she'd learned that Alphonso McKenzie was retiring and that the new head of engineering was as young as she was, she was intrigued. She had thought that, maybe, this stupid little war between the biochem division, her division, and the engineering one could finally stop. When they first met, he had seemed nice enough, a bit shy maybe, but really quite smart, almost as much as she was if she was being honest. So she even hoped they'd get the opportunity to work together at some point.

But then, there had been the heads of departments meeting where the budgets would be decided. The biochem and engineering divisions had always been the most important at Sci-Tech so, of course, they were always the ones getting the biggest fundings. But being the competitive young prodigies they were, none of them could stand being one of the best, they had to be THE best! So they started arguing about which project was more important, Fitz saying nonsense about her research being disgusting and probably involving dissecting dead cats or something of the sort while the toys he was making were definitely more useful and way cooler. Like that was a valid point! So immature! By the end of the meeting, the spark of war had been rekindled and Fitz was her new enemy.

He did bring something new to this war though. Where professor McKenzie was a quite serious (and maybe a bit boring) man, Fitz was really childish and started playing pranks on her. It started with an innocent broomstick stuck behind a closet's door to scare her when she opened it. But when she retaliated by placing a dead animal's liver next to his lunch in the common fridge, getting a very satisfying and unmanly scream from him, things kind of escalated. It actually came to the point where they were both called to the head of the whole science department's office and had to listen to a very long lecture about how they were scientists and should act accordingly and that they shouldn't make him regret hiring such young people to be head of their respective divisions. Jemma had never been so ashamed her whole life, even the time she drank a bit too much at the office party and let her friend Skye convince her to do karaoke. Jemma liked to think of herself as being a good girl. She was always proper and in control and she liked following the rules, it made her feel nice. And even though she had to admit she had a lot of fun with those pranks (though never to his face), it made her look unprofessional to her colleagues and superiors and it was all his fault!

Anyway, they were in the same plane now and there was nothing she could do about it. At least, he wasn't seating close to her so she could just sleep through the flight like she planned it. Then they would go their separate ways and she could finally spend three days without having to think about Leopold Fitz.

-0-0-0-

When the plane lands in London, Jemma quickly grabs her sweater and suitcase and is one of the first persons to get out of the plane. She is determined to go to the domestic departures lounge as fast as she can. She knows it's a bit childish but she doesn't want to cross paths with Fitz again. She's quite proud of herself when it takes her only ten minutes to get to the waiting area of her next plane. But her smile quickly fades when she recognizes his curly blond hair as she sweeps the place for an available seat.

Oh my god, how did he get here before me? Is he a wizard or something?

She is sure that she got out of the plane before him and made it straight to the departure lounge without getting lost, which is really impressive on its own in this airport. But here he is seating in the waiting area, his phone plugged in on one of the charging stations and reading a book like he's been there for hours. it's like he always does his best to annoy her even when he's not trying to!

So she is left with two choices. She can either try to stay as far away from him as she can and hope that he's taking the plane to Dublin and not the one to Aberdeen like she does. But him being Scottish, it's very likely that they're going to be on the same plane again and that he will see her at some point anyway ... Or she can at least get to be the smart ass this time.

"Wow, so you're the one following me now! "

A satisfied grin makes its way on her face when she sees him startle a bit at her words. It gets wider when he turns around and looks at her with an exasperated expression on his face. He folds the page of the book he's reading (which makes her cringe, I mean who would treat a book like that, really?) before closing it and retorting with a sarcastic tone.

"Yes, of course I'm following you and actually, I'm so good at it that I managed to get there before you!"

"Glad to see you admit it Leopold" She retorts with a smirk on her face as he rolls his eyes at the use of his first name. She had learned a few weeks ago that for some reason, he hated his first name, to the point where, before that famous meeting, she thought Fitz was actually his first name. She doesn't see anything wrong with the name Leopold really and if he hates it so much, then all the more reasons for her to use it as often as possible.

"So what brings you to Aberdeen Simmons? Are you by any chance looking for a new job that would keep you far away from New York?"

"Not that it's any of your business Leopold, but I'm actually going to a wedding in Whitecairns."

His eyebrows raise almost to his hairline at her statement.

"Please, please, please tell me it's not the Jamison-Fraser wedding you're going to."

"It is. Why? How do you know where I'm ... Oh ..." Realization dawns on her when she sees him put his head in his hands and let out a really big sigh.

"That's where you're going too, right ?"

"Yep, looks like we're going to see a lot more of each other this week-end ... Wait, how do you know them? I really hope we're not related on top of everything else."

She rolls her eyes at this.

"I'm a really old friends of Kara's, I'm her maid of honor actually. You?"

"I'm James' cousin so I guess we're good on the whole related part. But we'll be seing each other even more since I'm also his best man. So we'll probably both be at the rehearsal diner tomorrow."

"Fantastic! This week-end just keeps getting better."

He looks like he's about to throw some supposedly funny retort at her face when they hear an announcement asking them to go to their gate to embark immediately. They walk the short way to their gate and wait in silence as the families and elderly passengers board first. After a few minutes though, Jemma can't help asking him what's been bothering her for the last few minutes.

"But seriously, how did you manage to get here before me?"

"I'm a wizard Simmons!"

-0-0-0-

(from Skye : Hey ! Have you landed yet ?)

(to Skye : Yes still waiting for my luggage)

(to Skye : You won't believe who I ran into in the plane :o)

(to Skye : And he's the best man at the wedding)

(from Skye : David Tennant ?)

(from Skye : Ewan McGregor ?)

(from Skye : Sean Connery ?)

(to Skye : :rolls eyes: I already told you it's very unlikely that they'll be at the wedding, not all scottish people know each other)

(from Skye : one can still dream)

(to Skye : it's Fitz :vomits:)

(from Skye : :o :o)

(from Skye : So looks like you're finally gonna see what's under his kilt)

(to Skye : What ???!!)

(from Skye : you'll get to taste his whiskey)

(from Skye : He'll show you his crown jewels)

(from Skye : You'll get a taste of his haggis)

(to Skye : ugh gross)

(to Skye : Seriously it's more likely that I'll have sex with David Tennant)

(to Skye : And really, you can't make a dirty joke about haggis, it's the least sexy thing in the world)

(from Skye : Come on, it's tradition for the best man and maid of honor to hook up)

(from Skye : And it'd be a good occasion to resolve all that sexual tension)

(to Skye : :rolls eyes to the back of my head: already told you there's not an ounce of sexual tension between us)

(to Skye : just got my luggage talk to you later xoxo)


	2. Scotland

Wow I didn't miss that about Scotland.

Fitz has been waiting for a taxi in front of the airport for almost half an hour and he is starting to contemplate walking to Whitecairns even though it is a full 12 miles away. With no other plane scheduled to land tonight, the airport is a bit deserted and he is wondering if any cab would even bother to come by the airport tonight.

He is disturbed in his musings by Jemma Simmons walking towards him, looking especially irritated.

"What's wrong? Did I manage to irritate you without even trying?"

She rolls her eyes at this.

"Well, I'm sure you could! But you're not the cause of my irritation for once. I had to wait almost half an hour to get my bloody suitcase back and now it looks like I'm gonna have to wait some more for a taxi!"

He's about to tell her that yes, she will likely have to wait for another half hour or more for a taxi when he finally sees one approaching.

"Oh thank God. Finally!" He lets out with a big sigh and starts walking to the car.

Wait we're probably going in the same direction. And she'll probably end up waiting another half hour or more. The civil thing would be to propose to share yours. But then again why would I be civil to her? Was that civil to slam the door on my face yesterday? I don't think so! Okay it's not like I haven't voluntarily ignored her when she asked to hold the elevator door open but still ...

As he's contemplating wether or not he should offer to share his taxi with her, he can almost hear his mother's voice in his head. "You won't leave a young woman on her own in this deserted airport, that's not how I raised you Leopold". He lets out a big sigh but, as always, his inside voice mother wins the argument and he turns to Jemma.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but ... do you wanna share this taxi? I suppose we're going in the same direction anyway"

"What? Come again, I don't think I heard you correctly." She answers with a slightly amused smile.

"Well I thought we could always split the fee. And since we're going to be seing each other a lot in the next few days, I thought we could at least try to be civil to each other. But if you'd rather wait here for you own taxi, I'll be perfectly happy imagining you still waiting here in the cold while I'm enjoying my very comfortable hotel room." He says looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

She rolls her eyes at this but still gives him a small smile.

"Okay, I guess I'll take the civil option."

Fitz' education takes over again and he surprises her by taking both their luggage to put them in the boot of the car while she gets in and gives directions to their driver. They ride in silence for a few minutes before she turns to him and lightly touches his shoulders to get his attention.

"Thank you for that, Fitz"

He smiles when he notices that she switched back to calling him Fitz. She must be really grateful for his gesture.

"Well I've been known to be quite chivalrous, Jemma"

-0-0-0-

The 12 miles ride to Whitecairns is uneventful. They remain in silence most of the time but at least they're not arguing, which is a pretty big improvement in their relationship. They even exchange an amused smile when their driver screams a pretty impressive list of typically scottish insults at another driver who passes them at a very high speed. When they get close to Whitecairns, they start giving more precise directions to their driver and discover, without even being surprised about it anymore, that they will both be staying at The Glendale Hotel.

"At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if they give us the same room." He says with a small laugh.

"Well my mom keeps wanting to set me up with someone every time I come home and don't bring a boyfriend. So I wouldn't even be surprised if she arranged something like that. Even if it's with you."

"Hey, I'll have you know I make a great boyfriend, mothers always love me. I'd make yours really happy."

"Fitz, she's a married woman and I really don't want you to make my mother happy." She says with a mocking tone.

"So funny Simmons." He retorts sarcastically but still slightly smiles at this. If he's being honest it's actually kind of nice and relaxing to keep their usual teasing on a lighter note for once. He doesn't really remember who started the war between them but he always regretted that it went that way. When he first met her, she had seemed nice and almost as smart as he is. He doesn't often (if ever) meet people of his age that are like that and it's a bloody shame that the one he knows has to be his mortal enemy.

When they finally arrive at the hotel, it's late and they're both impatient to get to their room and have what will probably be the only good night's sleep they'll get this week-end.  
The Glendale hotel is a simple but nice and cosy place. It's only three stories high and has a family owned bed and breakfast feel to it. At this hour of night, the place is well lit but it's not too aggressive since it's made of several little light sources instead of a big one. The reception desk is on the left and on the right, there's a set of big armchairs and couches. With the dark reddish tones of the walls and the shelves full of books and magazines, it feels really homy.  
Just before they get to the reception, Fitz's phone rings and he lets out a sigh when he sees the caller ID that appears on screen.

"It's my mom. I forgot to tell her I landed safely. I should get that or she'll send a rescue team!"

"Aww, that's so cute, you have to check in with your mommy when you take the plane." She says cooing.

"Shut up Simmons!"

She gives him a big teasing grin before starting to walk towards the reception.

"Well, I'm going to get my room. Goodnight mama's boy and thanks again for the ride!"

"Yeah yeah goodnight Simmons"

He rolls her eyes at her and then hurries to pick up the call before it's too late.

-0-0-0-

After assuring his mother that he safely arrived at his hotel and that his flights were uneventful (there's no way, he's telling her about Jemma or he would have to spend hours telling her that their little war doesn't mean that they actually like each other, he's not ten years old for god's sake!), he finally hangs up and walks towards the clerk at the reception desk to get his room key and finally meet the bed he's been dreaming of for hours.

"Hi. I have a reservation for three nights under the name Leopold Fitz."

The clerk nods at him with a smile and starts searching for Fitz's booking on the small computer screen on his desk. After a few minutes though, Fitz is about to ask if there's a problem when the clerk looks at him with an embarrassed smile.

"I'm sorry mister Fitz, there's no trace of your booking anywhere."

"What?! That's ridiculous, I booked this room weeks ago, I even received the email confirmation ... You know what, never mind just give me any other room. I don't care about the price, I just want to take a shower and lie down."

"I really am very sorry mister Fitz but we're fully booked tonight. Lots of weddings in town this week-end."

"Of course!"

Fuuuuuck!


	3. Hotel

Jemma never eats junk food, she takes pride in her very healthy balanced diet. Because when you're smart enough to understand what are all those ingredients with weird names, you don't want to eat them anymore! But she's starving since she hasn't eaten anything for hours and it's too late for room service. So she is left with the only solution at her disposal : the vending machine in the hotel lobby.

But when she gets out of the elevator, she hears Fitz's distinctive voice, apparently on the phone, coming from the otherwise very quiet lobby. Curious about why he's not in his room yet, she gets closer to him but makes sure he cannot see her. Even though their interactions have been nicer than usual these last few hours, she still prefers to avoid him if she can.

"You're sure? You really don't have any room available? Even a suite? I really just want a place to sleep tonight ... Okay ... yeah I know, lots of weddings in town ... thanks anyway." He hangs up with a big sigh and lets his head fall back on the couch he's curently sitting on.

From what she's just heard, Jemma supposes that for some reason, there's no room for him in this hotel and apparently there's no room anywhere else in town. She would usually take this opportunity to make fun of him but he looks kind of miserable all alone in the hotel lobby and she can't help feeling sorry for him.

Well I do have another bed in my room ... Wait what? Are you actually considering sharing a room with Leopold Fitz tonight? I know he's been nice enough to share a taxi but it's not the same. You can't offer a bed to any guy that shares a ride with you, Jemma! What would your mom say about that ... well she probably wouldn't mind actually, as desperate for grand children as she is. Well at least, it's not some creep, it's Fitz who's about as dangerous as a bunny ... and quite as cute right now with his curly hair all tussled ... Oh come on! What's wrong with you tonight brain? Must be jet-lag! Argh I'm just too nice, I'll feel guilty all night anyway if I know he's out there not having a proper room to sleep in.

"Hey, didn't you get your room yet?" She asks, trying her best to sound like she didn't hear his last phone call.

"Well, you're gonna love this! This hotel doesn't have any trace of my booking, they don't have any room available and since, apparently, everyone in this town decided to get married on the same week-end, there's no other room available in any hotel in town or in a 10 miles radius." He lets out without stopping for air once and lets his head fall back on the couch.

She gets closer and after hesitating for a few seconds, she sits close to him on the couch and gives him a gentle nudge on the shoulder. "Well, normally I would already be laughing my ass off and I don't know if it's jet lag or the fact that I'm just a really nice person or that you just look really pathetic, but I actually feel kind of bad for you!"

He turns around slightly and gives her a questioning look. She nods her head to assure him that she meant it.

He lifts his head and lets out a small chuckle "Well, I'm really glad to know you find me pathetic, but I should get back to calling hotels. Maybe I'll find something in Aberdeen because I don't think they're gonna let me sleep on this couch ... as appealing as it's starting to be right now."

"What? You're not gonna go to Aberdeen at this time of night and then come back to Whitecairns everyday for the wedding, it's ridiculous."

"I know that but I don't see that I have any other choice."

"Well actually ..."

"What? Do you know of a secret hotel here in Whitecairns? Some king of knight bus for the stranded scotsmen and women?"

"You're such a nerd" She says, rolling her eyes.

"Says the woman who just perfectly understood my reference." He replies with a teasing grin.

"But no, i was about to say that they gave me a twin room so I do have an extra bed ..." She starts with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"What? Jemma Simmons, are you actually inviting me to your room? I didn't think I was that convincing with the whole boyfriend thing." He replies with a cocky grin.

"Don't make me regret my sudden outburst of generosity, Leopold. Because I'll be totally okay imagining you sleeping on some park bench while I'm enjoying my very comfortable room ..." She says with a raised eyebrow and he rolls his eyes as he recognizes his own words from earlier.

"Okay, I'm sorry, force of habit I guess. That's actually incredibly nice of you. But are you sure you'll be okay with spending even more time with me?" he asks with a small smile.

"Well, I'm not sure about that but I can't let a poor child sleep alone on the streets, can I? Your mommy would probably make me pay for that, right?"

"Still not funny Simmons!"

With that Jemma stands up and extends her hand to help him up. "So do you accept my offer?"

After a few seconds of hesitation, he takes her hand, stands up and grabs his bag. "Of course I do. And thank you. Seriously, you're a life saver Jemma. I guess I'll owe you a big favor." He says squeezing her hand slightly before letting it go.

"I'll remember that!"

-0-0-0-

Ten minutes later, they're both sitting cross legged on their respective bed, Fitz with an impressive amount of snacks from the vending machine in front of him, Jemma with a more reasonable one.

Just like the rest of the hotel, their room is quite simple but nice and comfortable. It's not really large but there's still room for a small desk and a big comfy armchair next to the window, with a nice view of the small town. Their beds are only separated by a little night stand with a lamp on it, the only one they decided to turn on since it's already so late. In other circumstances, this could have been kind of romantic.

"I thought you didn't eat junk food."

"I usually don't but I'm starving and I've had a long day, and there was no other option and ... stop judging me!" She answers with a defensive tone.

"Hey no one is judging here. Actually, I think it's nice to see that you're a human being after all." He says with a grin on his face. "Anyway, if we want this to work and not end up killing each other by the end of the week-end, I think we should agree on a few rules."

"OK, I'm listening." As she says that, she uncrosses her legs and stretches them out in front of her. Since she changed into her pajama shorts when they got to her room, It gives Fitz a chance to see much more of her skin than he ever has. The slight blush that makes its way from his neck to his face tells him that his body is reacting to this just as much as his mind and in that moment, he's really thankful for the very dim light in their hotel room.

Well, that's kind of sexy ... No, no, no stop that Fitz, don't act like a creep, stop staring, she was nice enough to let you stay in her room, don't make her uncomfortable. Those are just legs ... very well formed and pretty legs though ... no no no stop it before she thinks you're some kind of leg fetishist ... if that's even a thing.

Fortunately, Jemma doesn't seem to have noticed his staring and the conversation he just had in his head.

"Well, first of all, I think it'd be nice to call a truce between us, at least for the duration of the wedding. We've already proven that we can be civil to each other, and personally, I think I'll sleep better if I'm not afraid of waking up with a dead cat's liver on my pillow."

They both laugh at that.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Also, no one at work can know about that. Especially not Skye."

"I'm okay with that too, I don't want anyone in the engineering department to know I'm fraternizing with the enemy. But why Skye specifically?"

"I'm not telling you but you have to respect that, alright?"

"Yeah yeah, alright. And one last thing, we are not allowed to make fun of what the other is wearing."

She raises her eyebrows at that. "That sounds like a very specific rule. Any particular reason?"

"You'll see soon enough. But it's a wedding so anything's possible." He answers flashing her a mysterious smile.

-0-0-0-

Half an hour later, he comes out of the bathroom wearing a Doctor Who tee-shirt and an old pair of jeans (he doesn't feel like walking around in his boxers like he would usually do, especially if she insists on walking around wearing such small shorts). When she lifts her head from the book she was reading and sees what he's wearing, she smiles widely.

"I like your shirt!"

"Hey, I thought we agreed on not making fun of each other's clothes!"

"I'm not! I really like your shirt!"

When he gives her an incredulous look, she rolls her eyes and proceeds to unzip her sweater, revealing a tank top with a design very similar to his own shirt.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, you may not be such a bad person after all if you like the Doctor." She says with a playful smile. And he can't help but notice that she doesn't zip her sweater back and that she logically doesn't wear a bra underneath her top.

Aaaaaand you're staring again. Stop that stupid brain ... Man I really need a girlfriend.

-0-0-0-

After that, they start talking about Doctor Who, their favorite episodes and their favorite doctor. Fitz teases her about the fact that hers is David Tennant, who is Scottish like him and she definitely doesn't tell him that his Scottish accent is one of the main reasons she likes him. They also talk about all the science of time and space travel. Without realizing it, they go like this for about an hour before switching to other topics including their respective fields of science. Their conversation is quite passionate at some points but it remains exceptionally friendly.

"Well, this has been surprisingly nice but ..." She says with a small smile. "I don't know about James but Kara is quite the tyrannic bride which means I'll have a long day tomorrow. So we should maybe call it a night. What do you think?"

Fitz has already been lying down on his bed for the past half hour, having trouble keeping his eyes open, so he agrees to Jemma's proposition. They both get under the covers and turn off the light.

-0-0-0-

But half an hour later, sleep seems to still evade Jemma. She can't help replaying the events of tonight in her head. Also, she can't help thinking about the fact that the conversation they've been having for the past few hours is the most interesting one she's had with anyone in a long time. Actually, if this had been a date, she would definitely agree to a second one ...

Well, that's not gonna help me sleep ... It's just that I didn't have a boyfriend in a long time and I'm starting to lower my standards. Yep, that's all this is.

"Jemma, are you sleeping?" At least, she's not the only one having trouble sleeping.

"Trying to!"

"Jemmaaaa?"

"Whaaaaaat?" she says, with a small smile that contradicts the annoyed tone in her voice.

"I can't sleep."

"Count the sheep."

"Won't work there's no sheep in this room" She rolls her eyes and throws her pillow on his face with a satisfied grin.

"Oh thanks Jem, you're right, maybe I just needed an extra pillow."

Hey wait. Has he ever called you Jem? Does our truce include giving each other pet names?

"Come on. Give it back you prick."

"If you want it, come and get it!"

"If you make me get up, I'm gonna have to smother you with it. And you know I know how to make a corpse disappear."

The room remains silent for a moment then Jemma catches her pillow just before it hits her face.

"... evil woman!"


	4. Rehearsal dinner

The following morning, Jemma is woken up by the sound of the shower. Since her alarm clock was about to go off anyway, she decides to get up and takes her phone out to check her emails and messages while she waits for her turn in the bathroom. Unsurprisingly, she has three text messages from Skye asking if she's seen Fitz again or if she's met someone else already. She texts her that it's only 8 in the morning where she is and that the actual wedding is not until the next day. She also tells herself that she will most definitely never tell Skye that she will be sharing a room with Fitz all week-end.

Ten minutes later, Jemma is focused on the email she's writing and doesn't even notice when Fitz gets out of the bathroom.

"Good morning Jemma. Bathroom's all yours."

"Oh hello Fitz" It's only then that Jemma lifts hers head up to look at him and notices the fact that he's only wearing his jeans.

Well that's a nice sight to wake up to!

Just as Jemma expected, Fitz' torso is just as pale as his face. Not that she'd admit to expecting anything because that would mean she actually already thought about it. But what she didn't expect is him being so well muscled. He's not big but his shoulders are definitely broader than they look under his clothes and even if he doesn't have those show off kind of six packs most women like, he does have a nice firm looking stomach she wouldn't mind getting her hands on.

Wow, it's getting worse... No it's alright, it's just an objective observation. Nothing wrong with noticing an aesthetically pleasing body. Yes, now play it cool Jemma.

"Is this what you plan on wearing at the rehearsal diner ? I know they said the dresscode was casual but you still might be a little underdressed ..." She asks with a satisfied grin.

"D'you like what you see?" He replies with a cocky grin, then turns his back on her to reach into his suitcase to grab a shirt without waiting for her answer.

Yeah I definitely do.

She rolls her eyes at him while she tries to find a smart retort. But her mind remains blank as she can't help but notice that the view is not so bad from the back either. She starts to blush furiously at the thought so she mumbles a few words and hurries to the bathroom.

Well done Jemma, real smooth.

-0-0-0-

Even though they didn't agree on anything, when Jemma gets out of the shower, Fitz is waiting for her to get to the breakfast room. They start their meal in a companionable silence but soon enough, they resume their conversation from the previous night. They go back and forth in quite a rapid pace and don't even notice that the breakfast room is emptying around them.

"You know, I just received an email this morning saying that my dendrotoxin was definitely approved, so now it's gonna need a delivery mechanism."

"Oh yeah, I received an email about that too. My team should work on it starting next week. Congrats by the way." He says with a sincere smile.

"Thank you. And you know since you're gonna be working on it anyway, I thought maybe ..." She starts with a small smile, but seems to hesitate to say the rest of her sentence so he gives her an encouraging look. "... we could try working on it together. It would be much faster and much more efficient. We could both make the adjustments as we go along and maybe end up with an even better product." She finishes with a tentative smile.

"Wow. I know we've both made big efforts since last night but do you think we could really do that? Work together like actual colleagues without wanting to kill each other?" he says, a small grin tugging at his lips.

"Be honest with me, aren't you at least a little fed up with this stupid war? It's been several years for me already and I'm getting really tired of it."

"Yeah I guess. Actually, Since the infamous meeting, I've been thinking about making peace with you but I never found the right moment." He says with a small smile.

"I know, me too. Always thought it'd be nice working with someone my age for a change. And now might be our best chance, we're on neutral ground and we'll have to be civil anyway. I don't know about Jaimie but Kara can be really scary." She says and they both chuckle.

"Yeah, you're probably right. And since you're almost as smart as I am, together we might come up with a kick-ass product. So you should send what you already have and we can talk about it later. Deal?"

With that, he extends his hand to her with a big grin on his face. She rolls her eyes at the "almost as smart" comment but choses to ignore it. She will not lower herself to this level. After a few seconds hesitation, she takes his hand and shakes it. After that, they remain in silence, stealing glances at each other. Just as Jemma feels that they've been doing this for a bit too long, her phone beeps and offers her a welcome distraction. She takes it out of her sweater pocket and lets out a big sigh when she reads the content of the text message she's just received.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Remember me saying that my mom was always trying to set me up with some guy every time I come home?"

"Yeah ..."

"Well, she just texted me that my friend Kara's big brother would be at the wedding and, I quote "still single and really handsome". Argh"

"Maybe it's true." He says trying to keep a serious face but clearly having fun with this.

"Well first of all, it's not, he has a cabbage head and only plastic surgery would change that. And second of all, he's an asshole."

"Really? So why would your mom try to set you up with him?"

"Because he's a big hypocrite, he's always been very polite to her. But he was an asshole to me when I was a kid, calling me a freak because i was much smarter than him."

"Charming" He says with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah I know right? And then I didn't see him for years when he went to school in Edinburgh. And when I saw him again just before I left for the United States, I was sixteen and all grown up if you know what I mean, he suddenly started being all nice and flirty with me and he keeps doing it every time I see him." She finishes with a disgusted face.

"Wow, he does sound like a total douchebag. You can always say you've got a boyfriend back home. I've invented a few girlfriends to get out of embarrassing situations. I even contemplated paying someone so my mom would leave me alone."

She looks at him with a raised eyebrow and after a few seconds, he realizes what it just sounded like and starts blushing.

"No no no, that's not what I meant, I would never ..."

"I know, I'm just teasing. But believe me I tried that. It's not enough with him. He's all like "If you didn't bring that guy, it's not that serious between you two" and adds several winks and raised eyebrows. As if his innuendos aren't douchey enough."

"This guy gets better and better. I can't wait to meet him."

"Well you will tonight I guess." She says while rolling her eyes at the prospect.

As they've just resumed their previous conversation, the waiter comes to them with a slightly embarrassed smile and tells them the breakfast room will be closing soon. They both apologize, get up and make their way to the exit. Since they will both need to change before going to the rehearsal dinner, they agree to meet back at the hotel later that day and get to the restaurant together. They share a small smile and part ways to attend to their best man/maid of honor duties.

-0-0-0-

The Glendale Inn, not too far from their hotel and despite what the name suggests, is a very modern restaurant/lounge type of place but still manages to be quite cosy with its warm colors and very soft lighting. One half of the room is filled with tables and the other with a dance floor, still empty at this time of night. When they enter the restaurant, Fitz is almost immediately grabbed by his cousin James. Jemma catches sight of her friend Kara on the other side of the room but before she can reach her, a man with a very distinctive cabbage shaped head gets in her way.

"Well hello there beauty!" He says with a smile he probably wishes to come across as charming but is just extremely annoying and slightly creepy to Jemma.

"Hello Milton" She answers with a very tense smile.

Fuuuuuuck!

-0-0-0-

Ten minutes later, Fitz is trying to make small talk with Seamus, James' other best man, and from the raised eyebrows of the other man, he is clearly failing. As is often the case, what seems like a very casual topic to Fitz sounds like an alien language to most people. So when Jemma interrupts them and asks to talk to him in private about a work related issue, he is actually glad for the distraction and makes his way to a quieter side of the room with her.

"So did you get a call from Scitech or something?"

"No actually, that's not why i wanted to talk to you ... By the way, did I tell you how nice you look in that suit?" She says with a big smile while putting her hand on his shoulder. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she was flirting.

"No you didn't. Why are you being weird?" He answers in a suspicious tone.

"I'm not being weird!" She says, her voice going up a few octaves, thus contradicting herself. He doesn't say anything but raises his eyebrows and directs his gaze to the hand that's still on his shoulder.

"Okay, fine. I might have a really big favor to ask of you." She lets out with a big sigh while taking her hand off.

"That's more like it. I'm listening." He says leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms on his chest.

"Well like I mentioned earlier, Milton, Kara's brother, has been hitting on me every occasion he got for the past ten years. And, well, tonight makes no exception. The moment we got in the restaurant, he fell on me like some kind of disgusting predator." Fitz lets out a small chuckle at this. "So I said hello and tried to get rid of him as best as I could but he's really persistent, I'll give him that. And since he saw me walk in with you, one thing led to another and ... I kind of told him you were my boyfriend."

"Bloody hell, is that Milton Jamison?" Fitz says pointing to Milton on the other side of the room. "Wait what? What did you just say?"

"Yes that's him alright. You must have met him earlier today, right? And yes I'm really really sorry, he was looking at me with those creepy eyes and I panicked. I mean one second I'm thinking "I hope Milton's not there yet" and the next he's in front of me. He's like Voldemort but worse, you don't even have to say his name out loud! Anyway, obviously I don't react well under pressure and I thought that if he thinks my boyfriend is actually physically here, he'll stop hitting on me. And like I said, since you walked in here with me ..."

At this point, Fitz' eyebrows have almost reached his hairline and Jemma's voice slowly dies mid-sentence. Of course, Fitz is extremely surprised about this turn of events. Only two days ago, he would never have thought that Jemma would rather have anyone think he, of all people, is her boyfriend to avoid someone else's attention. But Jemma doesn't know that there's another reason for his reaction. She doesn't know that Fitz didn't meet Milton today and that he probably knows better than anyone else how much of an asshole he really is.

"I didn't meet him today. I've met this asshole twelve or thirteen years ago when I was still in Edinburgh. We went to high school together for a time. He bullied me for being younger and so much smarter than him, made my life a living hell for months. I should have known you were talking about him when you mentioned his cabbage head. Although I'd say it's more like a brussels sprouts really." He says fisting his hands on his side.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Jemma says, embarrassment written all over her face. "When he seemed to know your name, I figured he met you earlier today with James. Wow he's even worse than I thought he was. If I knew what an asshole he was to you, I would never have told him that. Forget about that whole boyfriend story, it's not your problem, I shouldn't have dragged you into it. I'll find another excuse to try and get rid of him."

Jemma stops talking when Fitz literally bursts out laughing, and looks at him with a very confused look. When he doesn't stop after a while, she starts to get a little annoyed.

"What? What is it? What are laughing at? Were you making fun of me or something?"

"No, no, no, I'm sorry but think about what you just did. You told my worst enemy, the guy that made me hate school for months, that the pretty girl he's had a crush on for years is actually in a relationship with me. Don't you see? You have nothing to be sorry about, you just served me the best revenge I could think of on a silver platter!" He says with a growing smile.

"Oh ... Of course, when you think about it like that ..." She answers, a mischievous smile on her face. "So you don't mind pretending to be my boyfriend for a few days?"

"Well this week-end is getting weirder with every minute that passes ... but yeah I guess I can do that for you since you shared your hotel room and everything. Technically, we're already sleeping together so we wouldn't even have to lie that much." He says with a cheeky grin.

"Well that's a good thing because I'm terrible at it." She says giving him a small nudge on the shoulder. "But how are we going to explain that we didn't tell anyone we were together? Because there's no way Milton is gonna keep that to himself. And from the looks we're getting, he's apparently told a few people already."

"Easy! We got together very recently, we realized only a few days ago that we were going to the same wedding. I mean what a coincidence right? People love this kind of story, like it's fate or some kind of bullshit like that. And we didn't want to tell them to avoid the stress of having to reorganize the table setting for us. Also we didn't want to steal their thunder with our new love. That way, we come across as very nice people and he comes across as the asshole he is when he tells them. And then, in a few weeks, we just have to tell them it didn't work out between us." He says with a very satisfied smile on his face.

"That's harsh, you're already planning our break up. Won't you give our fake relationship a chance?" She asks with a teasing grin.

"Nah. But only because I'm too afraid of falling in love with you!" He says in a fake dramatic tone and she rolls her eyes at him.

"But anyway that's a good plan. I have to say, you're really good at making up elaborate lies in a very short time. As a boyfriend, it's not a great quality but at least, you'd make a good spy." She says with a playful smile.

"I know. It was my second choice of career. So for the second time today, do we have a deal?" He says extending his hand to her.

"Of course" She says with a small smile. But when she extends her own hand, instead of shaking it, he just takes it and intertwines his fingers with hers, smiling slightly when she doesn't hesitate to do the same. For some reason, a few chills go up his arm and down his spine.

Well this should be an interesting night.

They remain in silence for a little time before walking to their friends as a couple.

"So you think I'm pretty."

"Shut up, Simmons"


	5. Getting closer

"Hey! Everything's alright Fitz?"

The evening had gone surprisingly well. Just as she expected, Milton had told half the people she knew about Fitz being her "boyfriend" before she even had the time to tell Fitz about it. But just as Fitz predicted, when they told everyone their little story, they were praised for being so thoughtful and people kept telling them how cute they were together. Being by Fitz' side most of the evening had prevented Milton from talking to her and, if she was being honest, she had a really good time too. Fitz proved to be quite funny in his own nerdy way and more than once, she found herself sincerely laughing at his jokes. And on a few occasions, she was also the only one to actually understand them. So when she saw him from across the room, on his own and looking quite grim, she felt something twist in her stomach and had to make sure he was alright.

"Hey, I'm alright, just a bit tired, jet lag must finally be getting to me." He says without looking up at her. She grabs a chair to sit next to him. The dinner had been over for an hour and now that people had started dancing, most tables were deserted.

"Come on. You're not just tired. You look sad or angry or maybe a combination of both, I don't know. I've seen you look at Milton a few times tonight. Did he say something to you?" She asks while reaching gently for his shoulder to make him face her.

"That's nice of you to ask really. But don't worry about it. I'm fine." He says with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

"Well, I won't force you to tell me but it might do you some good to get it out of your chest. You might have had it worst than me really, but I know first hand what an asshole he could be. And I know what it meant growing up as a genius child ... Not that I'm actually admitting you might be one." She says the last part with a teasing smile and it makes him chuckle. When she begins to think that's all she's going to get out of him, he starts talking again.

"You know, when I look back on it, it wasn't that bad. It's not like he really physically hurt me or anything. But it was just the constant teasing, the pranking, the name calling and maybe the occasional punch in the gut if I decided to stop ignoring him and fight back. You've seen him and you've seen me, I never got the upper hand, especially when I was twelve and he was sixteen. But the worst part was the stress of never knowing what would happen everyday when I got to school." He says with a sad smile that almost brings tears to her eyes. With all that happened in the last 24 hours, she has definitely warmed up to him and there is something about his vulnerability that makes her want to take him in her arms. But that's what a friend would do and she can't allow herself to do it so she settles for taking his hand. After all they're supposed to be a couple, it would only be logical for them to act a bit more affectionate.

"For what it's worth, I'm really sorry. If we had known each other back then, we could have ganged up on him and make his life a living hell." She says with a tentative smile.

"Yeah. We could have tested our night night gun on him." He says while squeezing her hand and giving her a teasing smile. "I hadn't thought of him in a while. I didn't think it could still get to me. I mean I have a really good life now, great friends, a job that I love and I'm a lot more confident than I was back then ..."

"Oh yeah I've seen that!" She cuts him off with a teasing grin and he rolls his eyes before continuing.

"But somehow when I saw him, it brought back all those feelings and it's like I'm fourteen again." He lets out with a big sigh.

"You know, if anyone should feel bad, it's him. He's not worth your trouble ... Of course, I know it's easier said than done, I couldn't tell him to fuck off without having to invent a boyfriend. I guess some people are hard to get rid of." She says suddenly feeling a little down herself.

"Hey, don't let my grumpiness rub off on you. We could always use that knowledge of yours to make him disappear for good." He says with a mischievous smile.

"Well actually, I already have the whole thing planned, I would probably use acid to make the body disappear. I would have to take some from work but just a very small quantity every week for months so it wouldn't be noticed. Then find a way to be alone with him without anyone noticing. I was just missing an alibi, but now I guess I'll have you for ..."

She stops when she sees Fitz looking at her wide eyed.

"What? It's a just a theory, I was bored on the flight home a few years ago and Milton had been particularly annoying. And don't pretend you never thought about how you would kill him!"

He smiles sheepishly at her with a guilty look on his face.

"I did, but it was never so subtle, mostly it involved his cabbage head and an axe and I was planning on getting away with it by pretending to be mad, I had read a few things on split personality. It was always more about the pleasure of bashing his stupid head in than the knowledge of his death for me." Now it's her turn to raise her eyebrows.

"And I bet he doesn't even know how many times and how close he was to his death." She says, grinning.

"Yeah, he's so stupid, he wouldn't even recognize death if it stood in front of him." They both giggle at this.

"Anyway, you won at life so it's not worth killing him now. You have an amazing job and the money that comes with it, great friends, a perfectly normal shaped head and for all he knows, you have the prettiest and most wonderful girlfriend in the world." She says with a satisfied smile that grows wider when she sees that she made him blush.

Awww, now that's cute!

"Well that last part's not true but since he doesn't even have a fake girlfriend, I guess I still win." He says with a bashful smile.

"Well for the record, I would have chosen you over him even if I didn't know what an asshole he is." She says, her voice barely a whisper.

What? I didn't see that coming! But ... oh my god, I totally would ... and he's looking at you again, he must be an all time champion of staring contest!

The warm expression in his eyes is so intense that she finds she has trouble holding it. She'd noticed how deep his eyes could be before but it was always during a fight. Now that she sees a softer side of him, she finally realizes how troubling they can be in quite a nice way. That's when she remembers she's still holding his hand so she gives a little squeeze before letting go of it and breaking eye contact. They remain in a slightly tense silence for a minute. But the nature of the tension is different now. Usually, it means that they're about to get at each other's throat but now it's definitely something else that Jemma has trouble defining. Fortunately, Fitz breaks the silence and she is thankful for it because she was about to start doing small talk and she knows how terrible she is at it.

"Come on. Let's go dancing!" He stands up and reaches for her hand.

"No that's alright. I know you hate dancing." She says in a very unconvincing tone.

"Come on. You've been staring longingly at the dance floor for the last few minutes. You just cheered me up. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't invite you to dance?" She raises her eyebrow at this but smiles at him and he can see how tempted she really is.

"Come with me or I'll tell Milton you want to dance with him." She looks at him in mock-offense but still stands up to follow him.

"By the way, we're not calling it the night night gun." She says with a teasing grin.

"We'll see about that."

-0-0-0-

Just when they've reached the dance floor and are about to start dancing, the music changes to something much slower. For a moment they look at each other not knowing what to do, but Jemma takes the decision for them both when she steps closer and wraps her arms around his neck. Fitz smiles and follows her lead by sliding his arms around her slim waist and they start to slowly sway to the music.

"So ... you're a much better liar than you said you were." He says with a playful smile.

"What do you mean? You're the one who told almost everyone our little story while I was stupidly blushing and you were blaming it on me being shy!" She says looking embarrassed at the memory.

"No I mean how you came to talk to me and tried to cheer me up. You took your girlfriend role very seriously. You totally convinced me!" He says looking at her with a very warm smile. Their faces are very close to one another now and the way he looks directly into her eyes makes her cheeks tinge with pink.

Wow. Were his eyes this blue yesterday? Of course Jemma, people's eyes don't change overnight ... Unless he really is a wizard ... A wizard?!! OK, no more champagne for you tonight.

"Is that your way of thanking me Fitz?" She says with the same playful smile he had earlier.

"Maybe..." He starts, his tone playful but when she looks at him with a slightly irritated look, he drops the act. "Okay, yes that was my very clumsy way of saying thank you ... so thank you Jemma." And with that he drops his head down a bit and lays a very soft kiss on her cheek.

It's a very friendly and platonic kiss but still, she swears she can feel his arms tighten a little around her waist and his warm hands through the fabric of her top on the small of her back. When she looks up at him, he's looking at her with a tenderness that takes her by surprise. It makes her heart beat a little faster and she feels like she can't hold his gaze much longer so, without thinking too much, she rests her head on his chest.

So I guess that's the sexual tension that Skye was talking about ...

She could always blame the champagne and their fake relationship for her forwardness. But that doesn't seem to bother him really and he just goes along with it and they dance like that for a few minutes.

When the music gets faster again, she takes her head off his chest to look at him with a tentative smile.

"So I was thinking ... what we did for each other tonight, it's really close to what friends would do, don't you think?"

"Yeah I suppose so ..."

"So since we're already such good fake girlfriend and boyfriend to each other, maybe we could give a shot at being real friends?" She says with a tentative smile. He pretends to think about it for a few seconds but then his lips start to quirk up in a big smile.

"Yes, I think we can try that!" They look at each other in silence for a moment.

"So in the end, a wedding and a common enemy were all we needed to put an end to this war. This calls for a celebration ... Champagne?" They both laugh at this and she nods at him.

As they make their way to the tables in search of something to drink, she trips and he has to catch her by the waist to keep her from falling. Which sends a few chills down her spine again.

"Wow, someone's already had a few drinks. I never thought I'd see you drunk." He says with a teasing grin.

"And you never will, I'm a bit tipsy at worst but I'm never drunk."

-0-0-0-

When they get out of the restaurant two hours later and start making their way to the hotel, Jemma is most definitely drunk. While the walk from the hotel had only taken fifteen minutes, it feels like the walk back from the restaurant is going to take much longer. While Fitz is not totally sober himself, his head is still clear and he can walk a relatively straight line. Jemma's quite a different story. The second they start walking, he knows he'll have to hold on to her tightly to keep her from falling every few steps.

"Hey. I can walk just fine on my own!" She says with a slightly scandalized tone that totally contradicts the way she leans even closer to him.

"Sure Jemma. I guess you're just doing your famous impression of Bambi learning to walk." She bursts out laughing at this and he has to catch her as she loses balance again.

"See that was the proof right here. That joke barely deserved a smile." he says with a teasing grin.

"OK, I'll admit I'm a tiiiny biiiit tipsy." She says stretching all her vowels, proving that she's a lot more drunk that she likes to admit, all while holding on to his arm a bit tighter.

She loses her balance again, making him lose his own, which makes her giggle. He rolls his eyes at this but it actually doesn't bother him that much. He would never admit it to her face but he finds her funny and cute and overall quite charming when she's drunk. He doesn't mind losing his personal space either. He doesn't know if it's the feeling of her warm skin against his own or the intoxicating perfume of her hair he can smell with her head leaning on his shoulder, so close to his face, but he can feel his heartbeat going faster. And it's not in a "oh my god, I'm gonna have a heart attack" way, more in a first date kind of way. That thought coupled with the way they danced earlier and his state of slight drunkenness, makes his mind go to more than friendly places.

That's fine, it's just the alcohol speaking. And maybe that incredible smell. Must be some kind of magic potion, I knew she was some kind of witch ... a very sexy witch though ... No no no stop that, don't go there brain! I just need some fresh air and a good night's sleep ... and probably a cold shower !

He is interrupted in his musings by Jemma, once more tripping and holding on to him to keep her balance.

"Be careful Jemma, you're gonna break an ankle if you keep doing this in those shoes."

"'m doing my best. Feet are killing me. Stupid mean shoes. Stupid saleslady who told me my legs looked sooooo pretty in those. Stupid stupid shoes ... Are we there yet?" She says with a pout.

"Soon Jemma ...like you need those to look pretty." He says the last part under his breath but she still somehow manages to hear it.

"Awww Fitz, you're so sweet. How did I not notice that before? You're like the opposite of that stupid Will." She says with a tender smile on her face as she turns to place a kiss on his cheek. But drunk as she is, she doesn't seem to realize that he turns to look at her at the same time and she ends up kissing the corner of his lips.

She's going to kill me!

"Fiiiitz, why don't you want people calling you Leo? It's a pretty name, it means lion and lions have pretty hair just like you!" She asks and Fitz can't help laughing at this.

"Well thank you for that I guess. But actually it just reminds me too much of the asshole I was named after ..." He says his eyes clouding for a second.

"Oh ... who's that?" She asks, sobering up a bit.

"My father ..." He says with a sad smile.

"Oh I'm sorry. You don't deserve people being so mean to you." She says as she gets closer to him to try and kiss him on the cheek again. But she trips on the pavement again and almost brings him down with her.

"That's it, I'm not letting you take one more step, you're gonna break both your ankles if you keep walking." With that, he puts one arm behind her back and bends over to put the other under her knees. She lets out a very high pitched and slightly delighted scream as he lifts her and starts carrying her bridal style. She's even lighter than he thought she was and, maybe it's the effects of the alcohol, but he finds that he can walk while carrying her quite easily.

"Fiiiitz, you don't have to do that. I can walk just fine on my own." She says giggling, but still puts her own arms around his neck.

-0-0-0-

As light as Jemma is, he is still relieved to let go of her as he deposits her on her bed as gently as he can. He helps her take off her shoes and goes to the bathroom to put some much needed fresh water on his face. After carrying her so close to him for the last five minutes, he somehow feels a lot drunker than he thought he was. But when he comes back to the room, he is met with the sight of Jemma in only her skirt and slightly revealing bra. In her state of drunkenness, she must have forgotten that Fitz was still sharing her room. He remains stunned and unable to move for a moment, but when she tries to reach for the hook of her bra, his mind starts working again.

"Hey Jemma, remember I'm still here right?" He starts looking for her pajama but doesn't find it so he gives her the shirt he was wearing the previous night, before she takes off anything else.

"Here, take this, you can change while I take a shower."

A very cold shower.

-0-0-0-

Ten minutes later, when he gets out the shower, he is mostly relieved to see that she has managed to take off the rest of her clothes and put on the shirt he gave her (and maybe just slightly disappointed). But she's still quite the vision and he can't help smiling as he watches her sleep for a minute. She's all curled up on the bed wearing only his shirt and her curly hair are wildly spread on the pillow all around her head. When his eyes drop to her legs, he remembers what he said earlier and definitely stands by it: she definitely doesn't need any pair of shoes to make them look pretty.

It's when he sees her shiver that he realizes she has fallen asleep on top of the covers. He tries to find another blanket in the room to avoid having to wake her up but there isn't any. So he just moves her as gently as possible, pulls the covers and just puts it back on top of her. She's still wearing her make up but he decides that she'll sleep just as well with it and she'll have to take care of it on her own in the morning. But her big earrings might hurt her if she moves in her sleep so he reaches to take them off. She mumbles something about a wizard in her sleep, which makes him chuckle, which makes her eyes flutter open slightly. He can't help smiling at the adorable sleepy expression on her face.

"You're looking at me with your wizard's eyes again. Stop doing that, it's confusing!" She says half whispering.

"Mmmh okay, whatever that means. Now get some sleep, yeah?" He says in a hushed voice.

"Yeah. Good night Fitzy." And with that her eyes close as she's drifting off to sleep again. The smile makes its way back on his face. Again. It seems that a drunk sleepy Jemma just has that effect on him. He feels a wave of affection hit him when he sees her smiling in her sleep, so without thinking and because he might not be completely sober yet, he gets closer and plants a delicate kiss on her lips and he can't help but wonder if the contented sigh that comes from her a moment later is at all related with it.

"Good night Jemma."

Before going to sleep, he places a glass of water and two aspirins on her nightstand and plugs in her phone on her charger. Then he takes his clothes off, gets under the covers and turns off the lights.  
He soon feels himself drift off to sleep but before loosing consciousness completely he reflects back on the events of the last two days. He was supposed to have a nice week-end off work with his favorite cousin, have fun, maybe drink a bit more than usual and just relax. But somehow Jemma has managed to occupy a big part of his mind. He's used to that at work but what's weird is the nature of these thoughts now. It used to be a 100% hate and irritation ... ok maybe 95% hate and irritation and 5% sexual tension. And now the sexual tension part is skyrocketing and the rest is mostly friendly feelings and ... something else? So he can't help but wonder how their relationship might evolve if they really stay in such good terms once they get back to work.


	6. The morning after

The next morning, Jemma is woken up by the sun and the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom. The memories of the previous night are still not completely clear since she's not fully awake, but at least her pounding headache reminds her pretty quickly that there was a lot of alcohol involved. She contemplates diving back under the covers but she knows she'll have to get up soon anyway, so she allows herself five more minutes and then slowly opens her eyes for good as she stretches her limbs starfish style.

She reaches for her phone that she doesn't remember putting on charge before going to bed and then sees the two aspirins that she knows she didn't put there. So this all must be Fitz's doing. She's grateful for the gesture and grabs the glass of water and the pills, hoping it will be enough to rid her of her hangover.

A few minutes later, Fitz gets out of the bathroom wearing only a towel around his waist and goes straight to the other side of the room to get something from his bag.

"Good morning" she says in the cheeriest tone she can muster. Her voice startles him and he almost loses his towel in the process. When he turns around, slightly blushing after almost showing her his ass, she is momentarily stunned at how attractive he actually is. It's not only his lean but really nice body, it's also the way his sandy blond hair catches the sunlight and how the light stubble on his cheeks makes the really nice structure of his face stand out. Not to mention the sweet expression in his blue eyes when he looks at her. Last night is still a bit blurry but if one thing is clear is that there's been an obvious shift in their relationship.

"Hey, look who's alive! How are you feeling this morning?" He asks with a teasing smile.

"Mmmhh ... less than great but the aspirins should help, thanks for that." She says with a weak smile. "And also, could you remind me why I'm wearing your t-shirt?"

"First thing I could find when you started to take your clothes off ..."

"Yeah that's what I thought, I was hoping I imagined that ..." She says taking her head in her hands.

"Do you often think of taking your clothes off in front of me?" He asks with a smirk and a raised eyebrow and she can only glare at him. "But don't worry, your honor is pretty much intact, I left the room before you had the time to take your bra off."

"Okay, I have more questions but I think it can wait until after I've taken a shower and feel human again!"

"You might need more than a shower for that!"

"It's really low to mock the hungovered girl looking like a panda." She says looking at herself in the mirror. "Especially when you look so fresh and attractive yourself." She adds in her head.

"Pandas are cute." He says with a teasing tone as she's closing the door to the bathroom and she could swear she hears him say "And so are you." Which brings a smile on her face as some of the events of the previous night come back to mind.

-0-0-0-

When she gets out of the bathroom feeling a little better, she is met with a delicious smell. In the middle of the room stands a metallic tray with a pot of tea, coffee, toasts, a fruit platter, a selection of jams and many other yummy looking things.

"I took the liberty of having the breakfast delivered here. I thought you might appreciate taking it in silence."

"You're amazing." The words leave her mouth before she even has the time to think about it.

"I know" he answers with a big smile.

-0-0-0-

They eat in silence for a few minutes until Fitz breaks it.

"Jemma? Are you alright?"

"What? Yes why?" She asks a little confused.

"I don't know. You haven't said a word for the last five minutes and you've been staring at me."

"Oh sorry. I've been thinking about last night. It's still a bit confused."

"Oh ..." He says with a small smile.

"So, you carried me to the hotel in your arms, right?"

"Yeah, 't was faster that way and ..."

"Then you took my shoes off and gave me your shirt?"

"Yeah ..."

"Then you put me to bed, took my earrings off, charged my phone, put aspirin and water on my nightstand and like it wasn't enough already, you ordered me breakfast?" Fitz is growing redder with every word she says and she finds it completely adorable.

"It was nothing really, anyone would have done that and ..."

"So where have you left your horse?"

"... it was the least I could do since ... Wait what?"

"You know with you being a knight in shiny armor and everything." She says with a big smile on her face. He blushes even more at that but then a playful smile slowly makes its way on his face as he remembers what she said the previous night.

"So yesterday I was a wizard and now I'm a knight. Who's the nerd now?"

"What? I didn't say that ... Did I?" She asks, growing redder.

"Well to be precise you said I have wizard's eyes." He says, his smile growing even bigger and her face is growing even redder.

"Okay well, you do have nice eyes and you know it, so no need to be all cocky about it." She says rolling her eyes at him. "Anyway, I'm definitely standing by the knight theory. That's the only logical explanation for you kissing me on the lips while you thought I was sleeping. Were you trying to save me from that terrible alcohol curse?" She says with a satisfied smile.

"Well that just a goodnight kiss, it's just that you were all ... you know ..." He stammers, gesturing vaguely towards her face and she doesn't really understand what he's trying to say but it must be some kind of compliment if it made him want to kiss her. "... and I was kind of drunk myself and ... oh shut up!" He ends up adding when he sees the mischievous little smile on her face. Of course his bout of bad temper only serves to amuse her even more. She always enjoyed embarrassing him, that fact isn't new. The fact that she finds it rather cute and endearing, now that's something she never thought would happen.

-0-0-0-

They enjoy the rest of their breakfast in silence until Jemma decides to break it. Her whole thing about him being a knight was meant as a compliment and a way to thank him for what he did, but somehow they fell back to their usual teasing and she wants to make it right.

"But seriously Fitz, thank you for taking care of me last night. It was incredibly sweet of you." She says as she catches his hand to get his attention.

"You're welcome. It was nothing really. And to be honest, I had a good time last night. Drunk ... sorry I mean tipsy Jemma is a lot of fun to be around." He says, unconsciously caressing the palm of her hand with his thumb.

"And chivalrous Fitz is not so bad either." She says holding his gaze a bit longer than she usually would.

So ... are we flirting now?

"So Fitz ... I vaguely remember asking you about why you don't like being called Leo ... and you telling me about your father." Jemma asks as gently as she can but she still can see Fitz tense a bit before smiling teasingly at her.

"Yes ... and you told me I had pretty hair."

"And you told me I had pretty legs and you weren't nearly as drunk as I was." She says with her own teasing smile that makes him blush. Now that she realized how easy it is to make him blush, Jemma tells herself that she will never stop trying to because it's quite funny and definitely adorable.

"Anyway ..." She continues. "I'm sorry about that, not the hair part, i wouldn't go as far as comparing them to a lion's but I have to admit they're quite pretty..." She adds and he smiles bashfully at her. "No I'm sorry about your father, whatever happened, and I'm sorry that I used your name so often to bother you, I feel terrible now."

"Well ... you are a terrible person." He says with a big smile and she swats his hand. "... and violent!" He adds and she rolls her eyes at him.

"That's allright Jemma, he just walked out on us when I was really young so it's in the past and I'm mostly over it now. You couldn't have known and I would probably have used it against you too if the roles had been reversed." He says, his tone getting softer.

"Well, I won't anymore, I promise." She says squeezing the hand she only now realizes she hadn't let go of and she wonders how they came to being so comfortable holding hands for no specific reason. "And it looks to me that you grew up pretty fine without him."

He looks so touched by the compliment that he can't find anything to say so he just looks at her with the warmest of smiles and she can feel her heart beat a little faster.

"Since it's sharing time, you mentioned a certain Will last night, care to tell me who it is and if it's a good thing that I'm his opposite?" He asks, teasing.

"Oh my god I remember now, I should really stop talking when I'm drunk!" She says putting her head in her hands.

"That's alright, I was just teasing, you don't have to talk to me about him if you don't want to." His tone getting softer again.

"No, it's okay I guess. I'm mostly over it now, he's my ex-boyfriend and believe me, when I said you were his opposite it's probably the best compliment I could have given you!" She says, still looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh ... What happened?"

"Met him on holidays, I was hiking in the desert. He's in the army so he knows a lot about it and he gave very useful tips, you know survival-bear grylls kind of stuff. He seemed really nice and we kind of hit it off." She starts.

"So far, he sounds like an okay guy." Fitz says.

"That's the thing, at first he was great and I was really excited about that relationship. I had never done the whole long term relationship thing but I was willing to give it a try. So, a month later, he had a permission and he came to New York for the week-end. The first evening was nice enough, just catching up with what happened in our lives since the last time and physically, it was ... you know ..." She says, blushing.

"No, I don't know ... What?" He asks, faking an innocent look and clearly enjoying seeing her embarrassed.

"Oh stop that, your innocent look isn't fooling anyone!" She says rolling her eyes at him. "Anyway, we spent the whole week-end together, I tried to show him around New York, go to a museum, things like that. But I soon realized that he was a lot nicer when he was the one showing off what he knew." Her voice trails off at the memory but he doesn't say anything and just looks at her with an encouraging smile. "At first, he tried to look interested and smiled politely when I talked about my work. But at some point he didn't even try anymore and the conversation kept coming back to him. So on the second day, I said I had a work emergency and went home as soon as I could. And that's the end of our story, even though he did try to see me the next few times he came to New York. Apparently he didn't realize what a disaster it was, or he did and he just wanted a "woman in every port" kind of relationship." She says with a bitter smile.

"Yeah, that sucks. For some weird reason, some men feel threatened by a woman who's smarter than them. It's their loss really if they can't see how stimulating it can be. I'm sorry it didn't work out with him but you deserve a lot better anyway." he says with a sincere smile and she smiles back, looking at him with an enigmatic look.

I could just kiss you right now.

When after a moment, she doesn't say anything, he feels obligated to break the silence. "What?"

"Oh nothing."She starts. "I was just thinking how drunk me was kinda right. You are quite his opposite. You started really low and you keep getting better and better." She says with a warm smile, making him blush again.

"Well ... thank you I guess. And that's one more thing we have in common. Poor choice of boyfriend/girlfriend." He says with a teasing smile.

"Oooh, I sense there's a story there ..." She says with a tentative smile, playfully clapping her hands.

"No, no no, you already know too much about me, you're one secret ahead. If you want to know more, you have to tell me one of yours now." He says, grinning. She gives it a thought for a minute until a big smiles appears on her face.

"Okay, this is a big one so you have to keep it to yourself." She starts and he nods with an intrigued look in his eyes. "I know I said it was terribly childish and unprofessional, and it was, but ... I loved our prank war." He puts his hand before his mouth in mock-offense. "At school, I was always younger than everyone so I was never included in those." She adds and he smiles sympathetically.

"Well I have to admit, some of yours were pretty evil for someone who never got to do it before." He says with a slightly teasing smile.

"Well I take that as a compliment, and the one where you turned all my office at a 90° angle was pretty good, that took some commitment." She answers with a playful smile.

"Yeah, almost got myself locked in Scitech all night for that one." He says and they both laugh at this.

"Wow." He adds after a minute. "It's like our whole relationship has been built on a lie." He says teasing but she can't help hearing the truth in that.

-0-0-0-

Fitz had always been proud of his Scottish origins, he never tried to hide his accent, even though he was pretty good at doing the american one, and he quite liked the funny traditions of his ancestors. But there's a specific one he wishes wasn't so popular, he tells himself as he finishes attaching his kilt. Lots of families still liked wearing their family's tartan to official ceremonies and the Fraser was one of them. And of course, as best man, he had to wear it too.

"So that was the reason for your little rule". Jemma's teasing voice startles him a bit as he didn't hear her getting out of the bathroom, occupied as he was to make sure his kilt was properly attached. He feels ridiculous enough wearing it, he doesn't want it to fall off during the ceremony.

"Yeah, about that, you remember what you promised, right?" He says as he turns to face her and his jaw almost literally drops when he sees her.

"Oh come on that's unfair, I have to wear this stupid kilt and you get to look like that!" Jemma's wearing an emerald strapless dress that nicely compliments her pale complexion. It's tightly adjusted from the hips up and the bottom is long but fluid and split on the side, revealing her feet and one of her legs when she walks. She let her slightly curly hair fall on her shoulders and Fitz can't help thinking that she looks like a mermaid.

"Mmh ... thank you ... I guess!" She says with a tentative smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah yeah you look-mmh-you look amazing Jemma." He says smiling back at her. "Okay, I need just five more minutes to shave and we can go."

"Oh but there's no need for that."

"Jemma, I know you hate being late, but I won't be long, I promise." He says walking towards the bathroom.

"I know Fitz, I just mean that you should keep the stubble ... works well for you." She says with a small smile.

"Really?"

"Yes. Trust me." She says with a slightly seductive smile, grabs her jacket and walks to the door.

So ... we're definitely flirting now!


	7. Wedding day

The wedding took place in a small but very pretty church. Fitz had stopped believing in God when it started becoming too much of a contradiction with his scientific knowledge but he had to admit there was something really beautiful and intense during this ceremony. The sun that came through the stained glasses at just the right angle had tainted the scene in many colors and his eyes had even filled with tears at some point.  
It was also really good to see his cousin so happy with Kara. Growing up, Fitz never had a big family. His father left when he was too young to even remember it and he was an only child. Being the peculiar little boy he was, way smarter than all the other children of his age, he never got really close to any of his few cousins. Jamie was the only one that felt like real family to him. He was two years older than Fitz and having a very soft nature, he kind of took him under his wing. Being an only child himself, he considered Fitz like his little brother. Jamie wasn't as smart as Fitz but he was smart enough to appreciate it and have real conversations with him, and Fitz had always been grateful to him for that.

After the ceremony, they all went to a beautiful park to take the official photos. Fitz and Jemma both felt a little guilty posing as a couple on the pictures James and Kara would look back to for years but it was too late to stop lying now. And it was in fact kind of nice to have her as a date all day. Once again they had a good time together and their little marks of affection felt really natural for two people who were in a fake relationship and actually still hated each other two days ago. He found himself taking her hand even when they were alone and didn't need to act as a couple. When he saw her shiver because she didn't want to wear her jacket on the photos, he put his arm around her shoulders to warm her up a bit. And if she minded any of that, she did a pretty good job hiding it.

-0-0-0-

After dinner, Jemma is nowhere to be seen and James is having fun with his friends from work. Fitz loves his cousin but he really doesn't have anything in common with most of his friends so he decides to lay back for a time. He takes his phone out and goes into his emails to check out the one Jemma sent him about their future project together. As he's reading everything, he doesn't realize how fast time passes. He always knew Jemma was brilliant, she wouldn't be in her position so young if she wasn't, but the work she sent him is mind-blowing. As he's reading, he can see that the ideas she has for the delivery mechanism completely match what he already has in mind after reading the first part of her email. He is not only stunned by how smart she is but also amazed at how their minds work alike. After a time, it feels kind of frustrating to just write everything he's thinking of on his phone so he gets up and starts looking for Jemma in the hope she'll be willing to talk about it now.

The lights having been dimmed to transform part of the beautiful stone walls room as a dance floor, he has trouble finding Jemma in the quite large crowd of guests invited to the wedding. Knowing James' generous and easy nature, it doesn't surprise him that so many people are willing to come celebrate his happy day with him, but right now, he'd be really thankful if they weren't all so tall so he could have a chance to find Jemma somewhere! Finally after a few minutes, he catches sight of her, speaking with Kara, her back to him. He starts making his way to her but when he gets closer, he hesitates. At first, he just doesn't want to interrupt, but then he hears his name coming from one of them. He knows it's bad to eavesdrop, especially since things have been so much better between them and he doesn't want to ruin that, but curiosity gets the best of him. So he just lays against the wall, promising himself he'll just stay a few seconds to make sure it's actually his name he heard.

"I said when is it gonna be you and Fitz's turn to get married?" Kara says, visibly repeating herself.

"Wow, a bit too soon for that Kara, don't you think? We've only been dating a few weeks." Jemma says, slightly embarrassed.

"I know, i know, but I have a good feeling about this one!"

"Oh really?" Jemma asks, with an amused tone.

"Yeah, I mean the previous ones didn't last very long because once you got bored with their muscles and low body fat percentage, you realized that they didn't understand half of what you said." Kara says with a teasing grin. "But with him it's different, he's just as smart as you are. It's quite cute how you get equally excited when you start talking about science together." She finishes with a warm smile on her face.

"You're right. I think I've never met someone quite so smart. We've started on the wrong foot together but once we got to know each other, I realized how much we have in common. We can talk for hours and I never have to tone down my brain by fear of scaring him. It feels quite amazing and really ... stimulating!" She says with a very sweet note in her voice that surprises Fitz.

He doesn't know which part of what she just said is made up for the sake of their little story but she sounds really sincere, especially for someone who's supposedly unable to lie. It brings a big smile to his face, as he cannot help but notice that it's really close to what he feels himself.

"Oh stimulating?" Kara says with a mischievous smile.

"Oh you know what I mean!" Jemma says leaning her head back in slight exasperation.

"Oh yes I know perfectly well." Kara answers, her smile growing even bigger. "You know I'm more for the big and muscular type, you've seen my Jaimie, but I could make an exception for Fitz's bue eyes and pretty face. I mean he's reaaaaaally cute. And I know you love a Scottish accent just as much as I do. We always said we'd both marry a Scotsman when we were teenagers."A big grin appears on Fitz's face when he tells himself he'll have to find a way to use this last information against Jemma. But then she answers and his jaw almost falls to the ground.

"Yeah I know right? But he's not only a pretty face, you know. He's obviously not big but you should see him without his shirt on, he does have that low body fat percentage I like and really nice abs too. And I really don't know how since he's got the eating habits of a ten years old." She says with a small chuckle.

On second thought, Fitz decides that maybe now is not the time to be talking to Jemma. There's no way he's going to be able to speak to her casually after what he just heard. It sounds too sincere and too close to what she already let on to be all a lie for the sake of their little story.

So what now? Am I supposed to talk to her about it when I wasn't even supposed to hear it? And why do I feel like I should do something about it? ... Maybe because I really want to do something about it. OH. MY. GOD. Do I really like Jemma Simmons?

Deep in his own thoughts and trying to back away from Jemma as discreetly as he can, he doesn't see the tall guy standing behind until he bumps into him. Fitz automatically apologizes but it's only when he turns around that he actually see who this is.

Urgh Milton. Okay, now retreat quickly before he has the time to react.

"Hey Fitzy, long time no see. Good to see you there, I've been meaning to talk to you since yesterday."

Oh come on!

-0-0-0-

For the past two days, Jemma has been successfully avoiding long conversations with Kara about Fitz because she knows what a bad liar she is. But after the dinner, a few dances and a few drinks, they both seat in a relatively quiet corner of the room and start talking like when they were teenagers. Kara gives her news of some of their common friends and tells her funny stories about Jaimie, so when the topic of Fitz comes up, she can't find a way to escape it again. But after a few minutes, she realizes that she doesn't even have to lie that much because she finds herself having mostly nice things to say about him now. Which relaxes her a bit but mostly troubles her!

As they keep talking about him, her eyes unconsciously start looking around the room for him. She finally spots him not too far from her talking with someone she cannot quite discern from where she is.

God he's really cute ... He's like a puppy but sexy too... Eww a sexy puppy. What's wrong with you Jemma?!!

If she's being honest, Jemma already thought he was cute when she first met him, with his curly hair, blue eyes, and ridiculously adorable shy smile. But now that she got to see how sweet and thoughtful he can be, outside of work at least, she's starting to find him more than just cute. And then there's the matter of the kilt. When she saw him with it, he assumed she would laugh so she indulged him because that's just what they do. Tease each other. But of course, he didn't know how partial she was to a cute guy wearing a kilt. And it was a really nice one, very traditional with many layers of fabric, not like those red ones most people wore and that made them look like an old lady. He also had the good taste of wearing it with boots like they did a few centuries ago, and not those slightly ridiculous knee high socks. Along with his shirt and matching waistcoat, he looked really handsome and she found herself wondering what she should do about it.

At some point, she sees that his face is getting somewhat tense and she wonders if there's something wrong. But then the person he was talking to turns around a bit and she can see why he's so tense.

Urgh Milton!

She's torn between wanting to stay as far away from Milton as she can and feeling sorry for poor Fitz. Finally, her good heart takes over and she decides to go help him. She excuses herself to Kara and makes her way to him. She plans on faking a call from work that requires both of them but when she gets closer, she hears her name. Thanks to the relative obscurity of the room, they don't see her so she decides to stay hidden just a few seconds to hear what they could have to say about her that has Fitz so tense.

"I'm just saying that a girl like Jemma needs a real man in her life. A boy like you won't be able to satisfy her properly, if you know what I mean." Milton says with a crooked grin.

"Yes I know what you mean, I think that plant behind you knows what you mean, it's not like subtlety has ever been your strong suit Milton." Fitz says, rolling his eyes.

"Come on, she's totally out of your league and you know it, mate." With every word Milton says, Fitz gets even more exasperated.

"Wow, I thought that with time that big cabbage head of yours would have filled at least a little, but it seems that you managed to remain as thick as you were ten years ago. Congratulations, that's quite the exploit." Jemma represses a big laugh at this last phrase. She also somehow feels proud of Fitz for standing up to him. "The last thing Jemma needs in her life is a guy like you. Not that it's for me to say, but I'm guessing that someone who likes her and respects her for more than just her pretty face would be a good start. Someone who, I don't know, sees how sweet and incredibly smart she is and likes her for that."

At this point, Jemma doesn't know what she's most happy about : the stupid stunned face of Milton after Fitz so brilliantly insulted him, the amazingly nice things he just said about her ... or how sincere that sounded ...  
Just as Milton is about to retort with what would probably be an even stupider argument, Jemma decides to take action without giving it too much of a thought.

-0-0-0-

"Hey honey, I've been looking all over for you, I've missed you." She says with a seductive smile directed at Fitz. Before either of them has the time to talk, she reaches for Fitz's hand, pulls him to her and crashes her lips to his. The kiss is meant to be quick, just wanting to make Milton uncomfortable and make him go, and maybe, maybe because Fitz just said what she wished at least one of her boyfriends had said someday. But after the initial shock, he starts kissing her back. His hand comes up to gently cradle her cheek and their lips move together in synchrony, sending delicious shivers down her spine. Just as she's about to part her lips and deepen the kiss, she remembers they're not actually a couple and they're not supposed to do that for real. So she slowly breaks it.

When she opens her eyes to look at him, he has a stunned and slightly disappointed expression.

"I thought it would be the most efficient way to save you from Milton's claws." She says, her voice way huskier than she intended.

"Oh ... and did it work? Did he leave?" He asks, a small grin at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah ..." She starts, smiling back. "Still not very far though ..." She continues, getting closer to him again.

"Maybe it would be safer to ..."

"... just in case he comes back ..." His hand makes its way to lightly rest on her shoulder as he unconsciously licks his lips.

"Yeah ..." She whispers, her eyes flitting from his eyes to his lips for a second.

This time, they meet in the middle. After the frustration of the previous kiss that ended way too quickly for their taste, this one is more passionate. She moves her hands to his neck and he slowly lets his own descend on her waist, gently caressing the skin of her arm on the way. When she parts her lips and slowly traces his lower lip with her tongue, he lets out a small groan and pulls her closer to him, encircling her completely in his arms. But he doesn't part his own lips fully yet, instead teasing her deliciously with the tip of his tongue. Even in such a moment, he can't help the teasing, but for once, she finds that she doesn't mind at all, enjoying the slow but inevitable way a fire is building between them. But after a time, he stops resisting her and his own desire and deepens the kiss. Their tongues move in perfect harmony, tangling and teasing, retreating and coming back for more, almost like they could communicate telepathically, and soon she feels her legs turn to gelatin and her mind go completely blank. It's sweet and passionate at the same time. When he gently bites her lower lip at the same time as he placates his warm hands on her lower back, a wave of heat overtakes her and she can't help thinking that she doesn't remember feeling so much pleasure from a kiss. Men so rarely take the time to kiss properly and thoroughly. Too soon, they have to stop for air but they still remain in each other's arms, not ready to let go of this warmth just yet.

Jemma is glad that they're in a relatively dark and quiet corner of the room because, from how close they got and how low his hands had already descended on her back, that kiss was about to become really inappropriate for such a public place! When they finally separate, Jemma looks up at him. Blue eyes are staring at her with a stunned expression that probably mirrors her own. After what seems like an eternity of intense gazing, but probably really only lasts a few seconds, they both start smiling at each other. First shy and tentative, it quickly turns to a full big Cheshire cat type of smile.

"So that was ..." He starts.

"Yeah ..." They remain silent for a moment.

"But seriously what was it?" She starts giggling and he gently rolls his eyes at her.

"I mean, either you became really better at lying or ... maybe I totally misread all the flirting since yesterday but for me this ... was real and ..."

"I didn't fake it either Fitz." She says, feeling that she better stop his ramblings or he could go on for hours. How someone could kiss with such passion and confidence and be so insecure afterwards confuses her a lot and makes her want to hug him until there's no longer a single trace of doubt in his mind that she wanted that kiss, not to convince their friends or chase Milton away, but because she wanted to.

"Also I might have heard what you just said to Milton ..."

"The part where I told him he has a cabbage head?" he asks mischievously.

"Yeah that too ..." She replies in a husky voice, getting closer to him again.

"Well..." He starts, almost whispering "I should be offended that you eavesdropped on me, but considering where that went, I guess I can't complain." He finishes with a big smile.

"And did you ..."

"Yes, I meant it." He says, their faces now only a few centimeters from each other.

Just as they're about to kiss again, the music stops and they are called upon to give their best man and maid of honor speech. They look at each other with a sweet smile and a slightly disappointed look.

"Talk later, yeah?" He asks with a knowing look.

"Yeah." She answers and he grabs her hand to kiss it before they make their way to the bride and groom's table.


	8. Fresh air

If there's one thing Fitz doesn't like about being the best man, it's having to do a speech. He doesn't mind telling nice and even emotional things about his cousin. He already told him how much he mattered to him and how happy he was for that he found the love of his life. It's not about talking in public either, he's had to do it a few times and he got used to it. It's having to do both at the same time. But it's tradition and he can't escape it.

So he starts by telling a few funny and embarrassing stories about Jaimie and the laughs from the audience are quite encouraging. But after that, he gets to the part about how him and Kara met and for some reason he turns his gaze to Jemma. She's looking at him with an intense look he cannot quite decipher, which already troubles him on its own, but then consciously or not, she starts biting her lip. The few following words come completely mixed up from his lips so he forces himself to look away from her or he knows he won't be able to finish his speech properly. With a few mutterings and a lot of blushing, he finally manages to do it and lets go of the mike with a sigh of relief.

Jemma seems a lot more comfortable with this and manages to go through her speech quite effortlessly. But after that, she's kidnapped by a bunch of Kara's relatives who want to tell her how beautiful her speech was. Then when she's finally free and Fitz thinks they'll be able to have some time alone, he gets dragged away by his cousin. For more than an hour, they try to get to each other but it looks like the cosmos doesn't want them to have that conversation and Fitz is starting to think they might have to wait until they're back in their hotel room. They do have a few eye contacts though, and this time, Fitz is quite sure that she's very consciously licking her lips when she looks at him. Which sends delicious heat waves all through his body but definitely doesn't help the frustration of not being able to have a minute alone with her.

Finally, Fitz sees an opportunity to take her away from the persons she's now talking to when the DJ announces a slow song meant for all the couples in the room. As his boyfriend, it's perfectly logical that he would want to dance with her at this moment and honestly if he doesn't talk to her now, his mind is probably going to explode really soon anyway. He was already a bit confused by how fast they went from hating each other to being friends and then to flirting, but the kisses they shared raised a lot of new questions. So he walks over to her and asks her for this dance, which she agrees to with a very warm smile.

-0-0-0-

When they get to the dance floor, he gently takes her by the waist and she doesn't hesitate to put her arms around his neck and her head on his chest. They dance like that for a few minutes without saying a word, just enjoying how nice it feels and gathering their thoughts. She finally moves her head bach from his chest to look at him.

"Hi." She says with a small smile.

"Hi ... So ..." He says with a tentative smile.

"Yeah ..."

"Okay i'll start. So I'm really confused by how things changed in two days ... confused in a positive way I mean" He starts blushing a little as the words seem harder to get out than he thought they would. "... and you know, I kinda liked you the first time we met and the more time I spend with you outside of work, the more I feel like it's my first impression that was correct. So how about we start over from that moment and see where this goes?" He finishes with a hopeful smile.

"Wow ... that's ... wow." She answers, having trouble finding her word too. "You know what? I think I'd like that! From the moment you offered to share the taxi, you kept on surprising me ... in a good way and that's quite confusing for me too. I mean the carrying me, the breakfast, those unbelievably blue eyes of yours and the kiss obviously ... And now you're blushing and it's ridiculously adorable!" She adds with a tone of fake exasperation. "So yeah ... I think there's definitely something worth exploring here."

They look at each other for a moment, a tender expression in their eyes then Fitz presses a light kiss on her hairline as he speaks.

"Good."

"So what now?" She asks, smiling.

"Well, I was thinking, maybe when we get home, we could go on a real date. You know, have dinner somewhere nice, get to know each other better like two normal people, not pretending to be together when we're supposed to hate each other but actually like each other." He says with a teasing smile.

"Yes, that would be nice ... and much simpler!" She says smiling back.

"One problem though ... I don't think I can wait for that date to kiss you again." He says bringing her closer, making her giggle.

The slow song has been over for a moment now and people are back to dancing in a less romantic way but they didn't even notice and they don't care. They remain in each other's arms like the young couple they are supposed to be, intensely gazing at each other for a moment before closing the distance and kissing each other again. The kiss is sweet to begin with and he can taste the champagne she just drank on her lips, but as the kiss deepens and her hands start to roam in his hair, he starts to feel as light headed as if he just drank a full glass himself. His own hands start to wander on her lower back and she lets out a small moan. Even though they're just kissing, it feels like it's the most erotic sound he's ever heard and he realizes that if they keep going like that, he's not going to be able to hide just how much of an effect she has on him for much longer. So he forces himself to break the kiss and looks at Jemma who, to his satisfaction, looks just as disappointed as he is.

"It's getting really hot in here, wanna get some fresh air?" He asks her.

"Yeah, really really hot." She says biting her lower lip, her eyes full of mirth. "You know, I really owe Skye an apology."

"Why? What for?" He asks a little confused as he takes her hand to lead her away.

"She kept telling me there was some sort of sexual tension between us. I thought it was totally absurd ... until yesterday at least." She says as they're trying to make their way through the crowd.

"Well of course, she was right. Wait, do you mean that you really never felt a little tension during all our arguments?" He asks, stopping to look at her for a moment. For some reason, it hurts a bit that he was the only one feeling a little sexual tension between them before.

"Well tension yes definitely. But I guess I was so absorbed in my hating of you that I didn't realize I could be so attracted to you at the same time." She answers as she gets closer to him, her face only inches from his and her voice only a whisper now. He looks at her a bit stunned for a second, his heart beating at an alarming rate.

"Okay, some fresh hair is definitely a good idea." He says, his face flushed as he takes her hand again to lead her out of the room.

Once they're out of the main reception room though, he lets her take the lead because his brain isn't fully functional right now and he has no idea of how to get out. This party is taking place in a old manor that has been renovated to host weddings and all kinds of events, like so many old properties everywhere in Scotland. Jemma had been there the previous day with Kara, as part of her maid of honor duties, to check if everything was okay and do a "recon" of the place, so she knows it better than him.

Fitz had really planned on going outside to cool down a bit, even though a cold shower is what he really reasonable needs at the moment. Jemma has more effect on him than any woman ever had in such a short time. He means what he said to Milton earlier and he feels that the intellectual connection he has with her is even more of a turn on than her pretty face and amazing body. And since because of that connection, he feels that they could have something nice, he doesn't want to ruin it by going too fast. But when he sees her walk just a bit ahead of him with her bare leg popping out of her split dress now and then, it's properly mesmerizing and he finds himself wondering if she actually is a mermaid.

So he cannot resist grabbing her hand again and pulls her to him to give her one more light kiss on the lips. As he's pushing away to start walking again, she pulls him by the belt of his kilt and kisses him again, more passionately this time. As they do this, she slowly pulls him with her to lean against the wall and as close together as they can get. At some point, they have to stop for oxygen but she doesn't let him catch his breath and starts kissing the side of his neck, slowly making her way to his pulse point then to the other side of his neck. When she gently bites his earlobe before sucking on it, he feels his resolve of not going too fast crumbling.

"Jemma?" He asks breathless.

"Yes ..." She answers moving her mouth to his neck again.

"If you keep ... doing that ... I'm not going to be .... able to control myself very long." He says with a shy little smile. At this, she finally looks up at him and raises her eyebrow.

"Who says you should?" Her voice barely a whisper.

So he stops trying to.


	9. Event Horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the chapter I've been rewriting the most, which is why it took me longer to post it here! This was my first time writing smut and it wasn't so good so I hope it's better now. Chapter 10 is a short one so I'll be posting it just after this one.

Fitz must have just waited for her cue because the second the words are out of her mouth, he crashes his lips to hers again with renewed passion and she's happy to let him take the lead for now. Even though they've only been kissing a few times, they're getting really good at it really fast. Their lips and tongues are in such perfect synchrony and it feels so good that she doesn't even notice his hands on her back until they finally descend on her bottom and he starts to gently knead the flesh through the very thin fabric of her dress. The jolt of pleasure his touch is sending all through her body makes her involuntarily arch into him and she can feel it also has quite an effect on him.

When they both feel the need to breathe again, he breaks the kiss and takes his hand off her. For a second, she feels really disappointed but then, he grabs both her hands and brings them up above her head and against the wall as he takes his turn kissing her neck. Her eyes flutter close again to better appreciate the delicious sensations created by his soft mouth on her skin and his fingers tangling with her own and she wonders how someone can manage to be both so tender and passionate at the same time. As he reaches the very sensitive skin on top of her breast, partly uncovered by her low cut dress, she lets out a small moan and feels that she's now the one loosing control.

When she had pulled him with her against the wall, she had sincerely meant to just kiss him a little more, and maybe have a really good snog before going out for some much needed fresh hair. But his touch is so intoxicating that she lets her heart do the talking for her. It's not like her to lose control like that. She does not believe in social conventions that tell people what is an appropriate amount of time to wait before having sex with someone they're attracted to, but usually she likes to wait a little longer to let the tension build up and make it even more enjoyable. But with Fitz, it feels like the last two days have built years worth of sexual tension and now that she had a taste of his sinful mouth and delicate deftly fingers, she can't find a reason in her mind to wait any longer to get more.

When Fitz stops kissing her to look at her with a cocky grin, the pupils of his beautiful blue eyes are blown wide with desire and she decides to stop looking for a reason. She crashes her lips to his again for a hungry kiss that makes her want to feel more of him. So this time she voluntarily shifts her hips against him just as she grabs his ass to pull him against her. The intense spark of pleasure it creates between her legs leaves her gasping in his mouth and from the way his breathing has sped up, it's working just as well on him.

"Jemma" He whispers as she lets go of his mouth. His hands are back on her ass and are now slowly making their way up to rest on her breasts. As she keeps almost unconsciously grinding her hips against him, he starts to slowly caress her through her dress, teasing her already erect nipples with his thumbs. At this point, she's not sure if she's happy that her dress required her not to wear a bra or if she regrets it because it definitely contributes in making her lose control for good. When she lets her own hand wander from his butt to the front of his kilt, he lets out an involuntary and very loud moan. That somehow makes her brain work again and she realizes they're still in a very public place, though by chance, still desert for now.

She opens her eyes and notices the door just opposite them. If she can remember correctly from her visit the day before, this is the door to a room where they just store extra chairs, tables and things like that. So hopefully it's gonna be empty for now ... and it's going to be unlocked. So she slowly disentangles herself from him, leaving him flushed, confused and visibly disappointed. But then she takes his hand and leads him through the door that is, as she hoped, open. He quickly gets where she's going and as soon as the door closes, the temperatures starts to significantly rise in the room.

-0-0-0-

The second the door closes, he pushes her against the wall and starts kissing her again. One hand is on her cheek and for a moment, the kiss is surprisingly soft and languid and when they part and their eyes meet, there's a tenderness in them that takes her breath away. She gives him a big happy smile before kissing him again and this time, it rapidly becomes just as urgent as it was a minute ago and his other hand is suddenly on her thigh and moving under her dress to come between her legs. He traces lazy circles with the tips of his fingers on the inside of her thighs.

"You know ... I really meant to get some fresh air..." He whispers in her ear.

"I know ... me too." She says panting, as Fitz's hand gets tentalizingly close to where she wants him.

"We could still go..." He teases.

"No..." She says capturing his lips in a languid kiss.

he laughs into her mouth and choses this moment to stop this exquisite torture and starts gently caressing her through her panties. On most other parts of her body, it would feel like a soft tickle but as he passes over the very sensitive skin of her folds and pushes just a little bit more to touch her clit, it makes her writhe in pleasure. From his pleased little grin, she can tell he knows exactly what he's doing and she decides she won't let him keep that smug little expression for too long.

She breaks the kiss and before he has the time to do anything, her hands are on his chest and she starts unbuttoning his waistcoat with a surprising dexterity that makes him look at her with a bashful smile. That man is a mystery, able to go from overconfident to shy in a matter of seconds, and it's surprisingly endearing so she cannot resist kissing him tenderly on the lips before leaving a trail of kisses on his jaw and neck while she resumes unbuttoning his shirt. When she gets to the last button, she tugs it out of his kilt and pushes both his shirt and waistcoat from his shoulders to let it fall unceremoniously on the floor as she takes a step back to look at him with a wolfish smile.

"What is it?" He asks "Are you laughing at my kilt again?" He asks, rolling his eyes.

"Oh Fitz, you couldn't be more wrong". With that, she pulls him to her again and kisses him hungrily, slipping her tongue in his mouth without hesitation, while her hands start to roam on his torso and bare back. She lightly scratches the nicely formed muscles of his shoulders and smiles when she feels the trail of pebbled skin it leaves on his back. Her mouth starts to make her way from his lips to his neck, alternating between kisses and small bites and gentle caresses with the tip of her tongue, but when she gets to his ear, she doesn't kiss him, instead she whispers : "I might have forgotten to mention earlier that I could never resist a cute guy in a kilt."

At this, he takes a step back and gives her a questioning look. But then he sees how hard her chest is heaving and how much her pupils are dilated, making her beautiful caramel eyes look almost black, and that's all the answer he needs to his silent question. He takes her in his arms again, kissing her with renewed vigor as he goes for the zipper on the side of her dress. Considering how well said zipper was hidden and how he finds it without hesitation, she can't help wondering how long he's been wanting to take her dress off her and if he actually took the time to study it and it makes her grin a bit. He slowly pulls it down and lets the dress fall, catching it and putting it on a chair behind him.

His thoughtfulness, even in such a passionate moment, makes her heart melts a bit with fondness. When he turns back, the sight of Jemma, wearing only her panties and high heel shoes, smiling at him, brings him to a whole new level of desire and he finds himself incapable of moving for a moment.

"Fitz?" She asks with a tentative smile.

"You're amazing." He says, his accent now in full force.

"I know" She says, teasing. "You're not so bad yourself." She answers biting her lower lip and looking at him with hooded eyes. That seems to make his brain work again because, a second later, he pushes her back against the wall. His hands descend on her ass and she seems to understand what he's trying to do immediately because as he hoists her up against the wall, her legs immediately lock around his waist. The movement brings the friction that they've been craving since they got into this room and they moan in synchrony. So he keeps it a constant, slowly but efficiently bringing their desire to a new high. As her head falls backwards, he is given access to her throat and doesn't hesitate to take advantage of it. He starts by kissing her pulse point and torturously makes his way to the point between her breasts. After what seems like an eternity to her, he finally goes left kissing her breast languidly then captures her nipple and starts sucking on it. She can feel him smile against her skin when his tongue makes a nice swirl just in the right place and she lets out a loud moan. When his hand grabs her other breast and starts caressing it while gently pinching her erect nipple with his thumb and forefinger, she realizes how close she's getting to climax without even having taken off her knickers.

"Fitz ... I can't wait ... anymore." She says between sighs of pleasure. She'd be embarrassed by the neediness in her voice if she wasn't so damn aroused. He gives her a mischievous smile but ignores her plea and keeps teasing, sucking on her nipple with renewed enthusiasm and rutting against her a little harder to see how much louder she can get. It feels like her eyes roll all the way to the back of her head, partly from exasperation but mostly from pleasure. But she's not going to let him regain control so easily. So, somehow she manages to snake her hand under the belt of his kilt and discovers that, contrary to tradition, he is wearing underwear.

"So you're not a traditionalist!" She says with a smirk but he seems so entranced by the positively scandalous things he's doing to her breasts that he barely registers what she's saying or doing. For a moment, she cannot help thinking back to the months they spent bickering and wishes she'd known then all the other very interesting and much less annoying ways in which he can use his mouth.

She can't help grinning a bit at this but that's not going to stop her either, so she slides her hand under the elastic of his boxers and grabs him. The loud gasp she gets from him makes her smile even wider and when she starts stroking his cock, even at such an awkward angle, it seems to distract him enough for him to slow down his own teasing. She doesn't know if she's grateful for it or not because she already misses the rough movement of his hips against her but at least she hopes it will get things moving faster now.

She keeps doing it while sucking on his earlobe an the combination of her hand, her mouth and the utterly erotic sounds she makes so close to his ear drives him crazy.  
"Okay, okay, you win." He says breathless, after a few minutes of her ministrations. And with that, he grabs her by her backside again, waiting for her to properly reattach her legs around his waist, and walks over to the other side of the room, kissing her languidly on the lips again. He gently deposits her on a table and as she desentangles her legs from around his waist, he hooks his fingers on the elastic of her panties and makes it slip over her legs. As he places himself between her legs, she considers unfastening the belt of his kilt to take it off but instead settles for just taking off the heavy leather pouch he's carrying and that would inevitably get in the way. He looks every bit like the embodiment of several of her fantasies (and okay maybe also like the cover of some of the cheap historical "romance" novels she may or may not possess) and she'll be damned if she doesn't take advantage of it. For a second, he looks at her with a raised eyebrow and a confused look and she thinks that maybe he takes it as a sign that she wants to slow things down and she cannot have that as it is definitely the opposite.

"I was not kidding about the kilt ..." She says with a wolfish smile as she tries to free him from his underwear but once he realizes what she has in mind, he returns her smile and stops her. Instead he captures her lips in another fiery kiss and his hand slowly makes its way down, caressing her breasts with the tip of his fingers, grazing her stomach and finally reaches the apex of her thighs. "Spread your legs a little wider for me, yeah?" He says, his low voice sending a shiver down her spine and she could swear he voluntarily makes his accent stronger. She doesn't know if it's that or the look in his eyes that's equally hungry and tender that does it but she finds herself almost automatically doing as he asks, hooking her legs loosely around his waist again to give him a better access. For a second, she feels like she feels herself leaving her body to look at the scene from the outside and she can't help blushing at how utterly erotic it must be. Her, completely naked save for her shoes, her legs wide open in total abandon to him and him, absolutely gorgeous, wearing his kilt and boots and only lacking war paints to complete her fantasy. God, the thought alone could make her come right this instant.  
She soon comes back inside her body when his hand finally gets to her center after teasing her thighs for a moment. The touch of his fingers on her labia is so delicate that she wonders if her hormone addled brain isn't imagining it. But then he starts caressing her clit a little more firmly, swallowing her whimpers with one more kiss. He does it for a moment, drawing gradually larger and larger circles on and around it until her moans turn to desperate whines as his finger grazes her entrance. When she whispers his name in his ear, he takes it as a sign that she wants him to go further and slips a finger inside. He slowly moves it up and down until she lets out the loudest cry of pleasure and he knows he found her g-spot.

As she is hit by wave of pleasure after wave of pleasure, Jemma can't help thinking how thankful she is for his delicate and agile engineer fingers. She's had a few very nice sexual experiences with previous boyfriends but not one has ever been so thoughtful and agile at the same time, and so willing to make foreplay last so long, especially for their first time. As he slips a second finger inside her while stroking her clit with his thumb, she is left wondering what she wants more : keep going like this or see how agile he can be with other parts of his anatomy. But then, his mouth is on her breast again and her mind goes blank.

When her head falls back and she starts moaning his name repeatedly, he understands her climax is close so he starts moving his fingers more rapidly, hooking them just so he keeps hitting that special spot within her. Finally, a very particular rub of his thumb against her clit combined with the movement of his other fingers seem to do the trick because he can feel her walls fluttering around his fingers.

"Oh yes Fitz!" She lets out between loud breathless gasps. He keeps his fingers slowly moving inside her to make her pleasure last as long as possible and it's only when he feels her relax against him that he takes them out. Then, he tenderly envelops her in a hug, rubbing her back that's gone ice-cold in the chilly room, especially compared to how hot the rest of her body feels against his skin. While she's trying to catch her breath, he lays delicate butterfly kisses all over her face and neck and after a minute or so, she slightly disentangles her legs from his waist and lays back a little to gaze at him with a big mischievous smile on her face.

"What are you smiling at?"

"You know that's not uncommon for women to do that after such a mind-blowing orgasm!" She says, her smile growing. His eyebrows raise at her last words.

"Mind blowing? Really?"He asks, now mimicking her smile.

"Like you couldn't tell ..." She simply answers while letting her hand wander on his torso, tracing each of his ribs with the tips of her fingers.

"Also, I was thinking how ironic it is that we've shared a perfectly comfortable room all week-end and we end up having sex in a closet like a couple of horny teenagers." She adds, her smile growing at this.

Fitz chuckles and lets his own hands roam on her breasts and stomach.

"Well, your teenage years must have been a lot funnier than mine, because I've been in a closet a few times back then but never with a girl." He says with a slightly sad smile. She is overwhelmed with tenderness at the thought of young Fitz so lonely in a world full of people that didn't understand him. Once more, she wonders what would have happened if they had met back then.

She pulls him closer and kisses him languidly, trying to pour all the newly found tenderness she feels for him into it. When they break apart, she whispers in his ear : "It's their loss, if they had known what you could do with those hands and lips, those girls would have dragged you to a closet themselves. Hell, if I had known, it would have spared us from a few months of fighting each other." As she wraps her legs around him again, she can feel that, even though she had been completely satisfied, he is still clearly aroused. And when he shifts his hips against her, she realizes that even as sated as she feels, she also aches to feel him inside her. She captures his lips again and as they explore each other's mouth, her hand descends down to his knees and up under his kilt to rub him through his boxers, leaving him gasping. When they both realize he's still too clothed for their next activity, she momentarily detaches herself from him and pulls his boxers down to let it fall on the floor. As she's about to pull him to her again, he bends over to grab the pouch of his kilt on the floor, opens it and takes a condom out.

He looks at her with a shy little smile and she wants to ask him if he always carries one with him or if he thought this had a chance of happening when he got dressed this morning. But when she looks at him, still terribly attractive and with his erection now free from the constraint of his boxer and creating a very obvious tent under his kilt, she decides to keep that question for later. She pulls him to her again and as her mouth is on his neck leaving a trail of languid kisses, her hand is back on his cock, stroking up and down faster than she did before and she can't help smiling proudly at how he's quickly standing back to attention. She almost has a mind to bring him to completion that way, not doubting that they'll have ample time for other activities later. Because despite her own needs at the moment, she likes how she manages to render the smartest man she's ever known completely incapable of a single sentence. It doesn't happen often with him and she finds that she quite likes this specific way of shutting him up. The look in his beautiful blue eyes is also quite possibly the most erotic thing she's ever seen and she's curious to see how much more erotic it can get during the throes of orgasm.  
"Jemma..." He says, his voice rough and low with desire.

His accent makes heat pool in rapidly between her legs and she finally decides that the teasing has gone long enough and keeps her little experiment for later. She grabs the condom from his hand, tears down the wrapping and slowly unrolls it on his length. He positions himself between her legs, his forehead resting on hers and as she brings him closer with her legs around his waist, he finally pushes in hard, making her whimper in both surprise and delight. As they look into each other's eyes, the sensation leaves them both breathless for a moment. But then he starts moving inside her. After his first forceful thrust, It's slow and gentle as he tries to get in as deep as he can. But after a minute or so, she has adapted to his girth and she spurs him on by grabbing his bum to pull him inside her harder. He gets the message and and his thrusts become stronger and faster again. Her hands, initially wrapped around his neck, leave to rest behind her on the table and give her enough leverage to move her hips in synchrony with his. This new angle makes it possible for him to hit that special spot again and she can't help the loud moans that escape her lips with every thrust of his hips. It also gives Fitz access to her throat and beautiful perky round breasts and he'll be damned if he doesn't take advantage of that. So he locks his mouth on her pulse point which makes him thrust even deeper and Jemma moan a little louder.

"Fitz" She says, breathless as he descends on her breast to gently nip at her nipple. He never thought he'd hear her say his name like that some day and as he's looking at her beautiful face all flushed, lips swollen and eyes closed in ecstasy, he thinks he could easily become addicted to it. After months of seing the calm, serious and contained version of her, this new passionate, playful Jemma that's capable of completely losing control under his hands and lips is a wonder to behold and it fills him with even more arousal but also quite a fair amount of tenderness. When she tightens her legs higher around his waist, the new angle makes him gasp in pleasure and as it brings his mind back to the sensations in his own body, he realizes he's really close to finishing. Fortunately, from the way her breathing has just started to get a lot louder, it seems that she's really close too.

As she feels the tingles in her toes and legs that always announce a particularly strong orgasm, she reattaches her arms around Fitz's neck. He's making her feel so good that she feels she'll never have enough. She never lets herself lose control so easily on the first time and right now, she tells herself that maybe, she'd been wrong this whole time. And in this moment, she just wants to kiss him and bite him and touch him in every way she can until they both fall into blissful oblivion. Fitz seems to react to her ministrations because he starts thrusting slower but even deeper and harder. It's just what she needed because after only a few seconds the tingling in her legs intensifies and her inner walls start fluttering. As she lets her head fall back, she can't stop the loud scream that comes out of her mouth and she lets pleasure overtake her completely.  
"Oh my god, Fitz!"  
It seems that Jemma's reaction was just what he needed, because the second she starts screaming, he stops holding back and feels his own orgasm coming and after a few last powerful thrusts, as he comes, he pulls her closer again and kisses her hard on the lips.

-0-0-0-

They stay that way, hanging on tightly to each other for a moment as they try to catch their breath. After a few minutes though, Fitz gently moves off from her but still remains close and lays a few kisses on her face. She lifts her head from the crook of his neck to look up at him and she is overwhelmed by the expression of pure tenderness on his face. She gives him a big lazy smile as she finally breaks the silence.

"So, that was ... intense."

"...amazing."

"Yes, that too!" She says, her smile growing bigger. "So, what now?"

"Any chance we can just get dressed and slip out quietly to get back to the hotel?" He asks cheekily.

"I think our absence might be noticed!" She answers with a tender smile.

"Yeah thought so too..." He says with a sheepish smile, but starts laughing with no apparent reason.

"What?" She asks, confused.

"Was just thinking about something I told you at the airport. I had no idea how true it was back then ..." He says with a mischievous smile.

"I knew you were following me!" She says with a mischievous smile of her own and he rolls his eyes.

"No, actually I was thinking how, now more than ever, truly glad and relieved I am that we're not related!"

-0-0-0-

"You know, I really meant to take you on a date, Jemma."

"Oh and now that you got what you wanted, you don't think it's necessary anymore, right?" She answers with a tiny grin he cannot see because of the darkness of the room.

"No no no, that's not how I meant it, of course I want to take you on a date ... I mean if you still want to. Do you still want to? I'd understand if you changed your mind, it's not like I've always been really nice to you ..."

Jemma wonders how long he would keep on rambling if she never stops him. She is discovering a whole new aspect of his personnality. Now that he does no longer seem to want to dedicate most of his time to annoy her, he seems to actually worry a lot about how she feels about him. Their first kiss has only been a few hours ago and considering how fast it went after that, he should logically be confident that she's at least a little interested in him. He does get all cocky and definitely kisses her with the confidence of someone who knows his interest is reciprocated but the next minute, she teases him and he's back to being shy. She finds it really endearing that he's so thoughtful and worries about what she feels but she also realizes that his insecurities probably come from what he had to go through as a child and teenager. So she decides to stop the teasing and stops him with a small kiss that soon turns a lot more passionate as he slowly rolls over her.

After a few minutes, she breaks the kiss and gently pushes him to the side. After the wedding, they came back to their hotel room, having decided that they should be reasonable and quickly get to sleep since they both had to wake up quite early. Jemma had to take her plane back to New York and Fitz his train to Glasgow to see his mother. But then Jemma had gone out of the bathroom wearing Fitz's Doctor Who shirt and after he demanded to get it back immediately, things kind of escalated again and that's how they both ended up naked in Jemma's single bed.

"We can't keep going like this Fitz, we'll never get some sleep." She says, smiling.

"I don't need to sleep." He says pouting, but stills gets off to rest by her side. "But seriously, do you want to go out when I get back from Glasgow? Have dinner somewhere, see if we can still get along in the US and maybe decide what this is." He says as he gestures in the general direction of their still slightly entangled bodies. Which makes her giggle.

"I already told you I'd like that Fitz. The fact that we already had sex certainly doesn't change that. I mean I usually go on a date then have sex but believe it or not, you kind of grew on me Fitz and I'd like to see where this could all go. And really the fact that we already had sex is actually a big plus considering that now I know ... you know ..." She says with a mischievous smile.

"... what an amazing lover I am?" He continues with a teasing grin.

"I was gonna say how compatible we are but okay, i'll give you this one, I guess you were quite good." She says, teasing again and he rolls his eyes at her.

"So I'll be back in New York on saturday morning so we could go out on saturday evening. What do you think?" He asks with an hopeful smile.

"Wow, you're not loosing any time. Afraid you'll miss me too much?" She asks, turning her face towards him.

"Oh come on, I'm doing this for you, I know you'll miss me a lot more, I'm very missable!" He says with a big smile on his face.

"That's not a word."

"That's not the point." He says as he starts tracing circles with the tips of his fingers on her bare stomach, making her shiver deliciously.

"Okay, okay, saturday night, that's a date! Text me the place and time." She says as she turns around a bit to give him access to more skin. Nothing wrong with appreciating a nice relaxing massage after hours of exertion.

"Okay ... I guess i'll just need your phone number for that ..." He begins and they both simultaneously burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I already slept with you ... several times without even having your phone number, I don't even know you, you might be a miniature trains collector for all I know!" She says, hiding her face in her hands, blushing.

"Well if it can make you feel better you already know the most important things about me anyway: my love for science and Doctor Who, most of my favorite family members and even my mortal enemy." She raises her eyebrow at this last part."I mean Milton, not you of course. You're too pretty ... and naked to be my enemy any longer." He says with a bashful smile as his hand resumes his teasing and starts tracing circles on her bare breasts now.

"Awww" She says with a teasing smile as she starts to feel a little breathless.

"And I don't collect trains." He says, as he presses light kisses on her hairline.

"Better."

"Soooo ... will you miss me?" He asks as he is now fully massaging her breasts with the palms of his hands.

"Mmmhh ..." She says, trying to sound detached which is hard considering how completely breathless she is now. "I don't know ... will you?"

"Maybe a bit ..." He says, his accent growing thicker, his fingers now pinching her nipple.

Oh my god, that's unfair. He has to be doing it on purpose. How is it possible to be so turned on by an accent?

"So ...?" He starts as one of his hands now descends towards her thighs while the other is still on her breast. He is now hovering over her and she can't help grinning when she feels that he's also turning himself on by touching her.

"Yeah, okay I might miss you too ..." She says, gasping as his finger dips inside her folds.

"And I was ... quite good?" He continues a little breathless himself as he continues his ministrations, trying not to whimper when she spreads her thighs a little wider and one of them brushes against his erection.

Of course you were, you and your naughty engineer hands.

At this point, she knows she won't be able to resist him any longer and she doesn't really want to. But there's no way Jemma is going to let him play with her like that without retaliating so without warning, she turns around, rolls over him and straddles him. Before he has the time to say anything, she grabs his hands and pins them to the bed, making him her prisoner for the time being. She starts moving her hips in slow circles over his, making him moan loudly and feeling him grow harder in a instant.

"So i was thinking, maybe I can just sleep on the plane." She starts, her voice barely a whisper and he nods enthusiastically. "After all, it's quite a long ... flight." She adds, her face now really close to his, her lips almost grazing his as she speaks. His pupils are now blown wide with lust, just as she expected.

"But first" She says as she suddenly pulls back and stops moving above him. "Tell me how you got to the domestic departures lounge before me!"


	10. What next?

The week that followed, Jemma found herself thinking a lot about Fitz and that confused her immensely. Everything about what happened with him was different from every other relationship she's ever been in and she didn't even know if she could call what they had a relationship yet! Usually, she would meet some guy that she would find interesting or charming or sometimes, even though she was a bit ashamed of that, just very attractive. Then they would go on a date and if things went well, they would end up sleeping together and if things went really well, he would become his boyfriend. With Fitz, it all kind of happened at the same time. One day, he was the most irritating person in the world and the next, it felt like he became the most interesting, attractive and sweetest guy she ever dated and they didn't even go on a date! So as the days passed, she was starting to think that it was all too good to be true, that maybe it was just the combination of the romantic atmosphere of the wedding, the sheer amount of alcohol and the desert that was her love life these past months. Or maybe he was just that good, but then why had it taken her so long to notice it? Again, usually she would talk about it with her friend Skye and she would help her sort out her feelings. But of course this time it was also different because Fitz and her had agreed that they should keep this a secret, at least from the people they worked with, until they could spend more time together and be able to put a word on what they were to each other.

"Jemma, are you still with me?" Skye asks in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Oh yes sorry, I'm here. What were you saying?" Jemma answers with a small embarrassed smile.

Come on, focus Jemma, keep your mind off him or you won't be able to keep it a secret for long.

"Nothing important. But I wonder what is so important that you cannot keep your mind on anything else for more than five minutes." Skye says, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh just work you know. I'm really looking forward to working on that delivery mechanism for my dendrotoxin, this might be the most interesting project I got to work on since I joined Scitech." She says with a big smile.

Jemma knows how bad she is at lying so she decides to go with only half a lie, hoping to convince Skye. Because it's true that she's been looking forward to work on this project, she's just omitting to say that the fact that she's going to be working on it with Fitz is also one of the main reasons she's so excited about it.

"Of course! And that's why you're smiling all the time for no reason ... " Skye answers, looking unconvinced.

"Why wouldn't I smile? I just went to my best friend ... I mean one of my best friends' wedding and I'm currently working on a very exciting project, my life's great!" She says, trying her best to sound convincing.

"Says the woman who kept complaining about her absence of love life until a week ago ... Oh my god, you met someone at that wedding, didn't you?" Skye says, clapping her hands, suddenly looking excited.

"No, I didn't meet anyone but I guess seing Milton reminded me that I wasn't that desperate to find a boyfriend after all so I decided to stop looking and let him come to me!" Jemma says with a satisfied smile. First of all because she just sounded really convincing but also because technically it was all true. She didn't meet Fitz at that wedding and he'd be the one coming to her in a few days.

"Wow. Good for you Jemma." The young woman answers with a sincere smile, finally looking convinced. "By the way, about the wedding, you never told me how it went with Fitz."

Okay Jemma be cool, it's almost over.

"Oh it went better than I expected actually. We decided to both be grown ups about it. We called a truce and after that, it all went quite well. We might even be able to work together sometimes instead of exchanging emails when our offices are just next to each other. That'll probably save up a lot of time." She says with a chuckle.

"Oh that's cool ... I guess..." Skye says looking a bit disappointed by the lack of gossip. "And about that sexual tension?" She adds with a teasing grin.

Be cool, be cool, be cool!

"Sorry Skye, that still hasn't changed!" Jemma answers with a satisfied grin. "About that, how are things with you and Lincoln?" She says with a sympathetic smile, hoping her friend will take the bait.

"i don't know, he keeps sending me mixed signals. Did I tell you what he did yesterday?" She says with an exasperated tone.

Annnnnd you managed to successfully change the subject, well done Jemma! Also you need to stop talking to yourself!

-0-0-0-

Fitz, on the other hand, wished he wouldn't have to talk about Jemma that much. As he predicted, word about his new girlfriend had reached his mother before he even had the opportunity to decide if he wanted to tell her about Jemma at all, at least until they had the chance to spend more time together. So when he was greeted with a scolding about the fact that she had to learn the news from a fairly distant relative instead of her only son, he decided to go with the story they told everyone at the wedding. Somehow he thought that telling his mom he faked a relationship with a girl he hated a week ago, but then ended up having wild sex with her in a closet and is still waiting to know if she is going to be his girlfriend, wouldn't work very well! So of course, he had to undergo interrogation about "this Jemma girl you think your mom doesn't deserve to meet". At first he told her about how they met at work, about their projects together and how smart and beautiful she was. But when it came to telling his mother about more personal things or her family, he realized he didn't know anything except her love for Doctor Who. Of course, it was already proof of Jemma's really good taste but it still made him think. This week-end made him see her under a totally different light and he liked this new Jemma a lot, but what if things went back to exactly how they were before, once they're both back in New York? What if their obvious attraction towards each other wasn't enough to prevent them from going at each other's throat and ruining what could be the start of something really nice?

As Fitz is looking at his phone pretending to answer a very important email from work to avoid his mother, he gets a text from Jemma. For the past few days, he's been wanting to text her but he didn't want to appear too clingy so he's glad that she actually texted him first. Of course, now he also hopes that she's not gonna think he's an asshole for not texting her first.

(from Jemma to Fitz: Hey! What's new mama's boy? How are things with your mum? :D)

(from Fitz to Jemma: Well she heard news about "my girlfriend" from some cousin ...)

(from Fitz to Jemma: So I had to tell her about you ...)

(from Fitz to Jemma: Of course I had to make up a few things about you, like how nice you are and things like that ...)

(from Fitz to Jemma: :D)

(from Jemma to Fitz: hilarious)

(from Jemma to Fitz: Well I had to talk with mister Fury on my own when he heard the news that we would be working together ...)

(from Jemma to Fitz: He's a very scary man)

(from Jemma to Fitz: The look he gave me when he asked if we could play well together and I chuckled ...)

(from Jemma to Fitz: It will haunt me for years, imagine if he actually had two eyes!)

This makes Fitz laugh but he stops immediately so his mom won't hear him and think he's not working anymore.

(from Fitz to Jemma: You shouldn't make fun of him, that man sees EVERYTHING)

(from Fitz to Jemma: EVERYTHING JEMMA !!)

(from Jemma to Fitz: :( )

(from Fitz to Jemma: But seriously, thanks for doing that, I'll make it up to you :))

(from Jemma to Fitz: Oh .... And how are you gonna do that? 


	11. First date

The day of their date, Jemma cannot decide if she is more nervous or excited. If someone had told her only a week ago that she would feel this way about Leo Fitz, she would have called them crazy. But then again, a week ago she would have never even considered a date with Leo Fitz, hell she wouldn't even have considered a friendly chat while waiting for the elevator together. So she tries not to think too much about how things could go bad or really well in the contrary, because both options and what they mean for the future make her almost equally nervous, and she decides to concentrate on getting ready. Because there's one thing Jemma excels at and it's preparation. After hesitating for a while, she decides to go for a relatively short emerald green dress because Fitz seemed to like her green dress from the wedding. And her legs too, she recalls with a smile. With that she decides she'll be wearing comfortable heels, because even though she liked how Fitz carried her the last time, she wants to be able walk tonight! She lets her hair naturally flow on her shoulders and prepares a jacket to take with her since it's supposed to get a little chilly tonight.

And now it's only 6 PM and I still have half an hour to let my mind go crazy and create all potentially dramatic scenarios.

At 6:30 on the dot, Fitz knocks on the door and Jemma takes a big breath before going to open it.

Wow, that's what I call punctuality. Or maybe he's been outside the door for an hour and waited for the exact time to knock on the door ... No, that's crazy, only you would do something like that!

"Hey, hello Fitz." She says with a big smile as he appears in the doorway.

"Hi" He says with a nervous smile.

"Come on in a minute, I just have to put my shoes on and I'll be ready to go."

They stay face to face for a moment, both not knowing how they should greet each other. Should they kiss? Should they hug? Should they shake hands?

Shake hands? Why not a pat on the back while you're at it! You're not gonna shake hands with the guy you had amazing sex with only a week ago and who's taking you on a date!

But then, the moment is passed and Jemma goes looking for her shoes while Fitz remains awkwardly at the entrance of the living room, not knowing what to do with his hands.

"I like your flat, it's very ... you" He says to fill the silence.

"Oh thank you" She says with a small smile as she's grabbing her handbag and jacket.

"Shall we go?" He says and she can see him make a move to take her hand but then he hesitates and puts his hands back in his pockets.

"Fitz, wait!" She says as she gathers up her courage and grabs his hand to make him face her. "Are you, by any chance, just as nervous as I am?" She asks with a tentative smile.

"Depends ... Do you feel like your heart is going to beat out of your chest?" He says, a slight grin making its way on his face.

"Yeah ... also I've been dressed up and ready since 6 PM." She says with a slightly embarrassed smile and he lets out a big laugh, finally relaxing a bit.

"Hey, don't mock me!" She says, looking a little offended.

"I'm not mocking you, it's just that i've been waiting at the entrance of your building for the last twenty minutes because I was afraid of being late and left home way too early." He says with an amused grin. "Some of your neighbors gave me really mean looks!"

They both burst out laughing, somehow relieved to see that they're both equally nervous and a bit amused at how much they are alike.

"Listen, last week-end has been really surprising to say the least, but it was quite a pleasant surprise, right?" She asks, getting a little closer to him.

"Yeah, quite ... pleasant."He says with a lopsided grin.

"And believe me, I thought about all the ways tonight could go wrong, but why should it? I think we need to stop overthinking everything, just enjoy ourselves and see where this will go. What do you think?" She asks with a tentative smile.

He smiles at her for a few seconds, not saying anything, before closing the gap between them and kissing her. At first, it's soft like he's afraid she's going to push him away. But when she puts her hands around his neck, he gets more confident, his hands go to her waist and he deepens the kiss. His tongue tangles with hers in the most delicious ways and as he's pulling her closer to him, the warmth of his hands through the thin fabric of her dress makes her feel weak in the knees. It's so good that she's starting to consider pulling him to her bedroom right now and forego dinner completely.

But that's when he decides to break the kiss, which leaves her a little dumbfounded. As he looks into her eyes, a bashful smile appears on his face.

"You said we shouldn't think too much, right?"

Oh my god those eyes, he's so damn cute! At least I know for sure I didn't exaggerate that part in my mind!

"Right ... that was a really good application of my theory." She answers, a little breathlessly, and gives him another light peck on the lips before pulling away from him completely.

"Shall we go then?" He repeats but this time doesn't hesitate to take her hand.

"Yes" She says as she grabs her bag and jacket again. "Are you going to tell me where we're going now?"

"Nope" He answers as they're walking through the door.

"Can you give me a clue?" She asks with a seductive grin.

"Nope." He says with what he probably thinks is a mysterious smile and she rolls her eyes.

They descend the two flights of stairs in silence before she breaks it again.

"Fitz?" She asks with a playful tone.

"Yes, Jemma?"

"Did you keep the stubble for me?"

"Maybe" He replies, his tone getting playful too.

"Fiiiiitz?" She says locking her arm around his to get a little closer.

"Yeah alright! And I had to go through my mom telling me I needed a shave ten times a day just for you!" He says in a slightly irritated tone.

"That's absolutely adorable." She answers with a big teasing grin, which makes him pout a little. She knows he's faking it but she cannot resist capturing his lips with a kiss again. "I'm glad you did, I really like it." She says with a tender smile that he is quick to reciprocate.

"Also, I noticed it makes me look a little older. Maybe they're gonna stop asking for my ID every time I order alcohol in that stupid country. I'm 26 for god's sake!"

"Awww, poor little baby." She says, teasing.

"Stop that, you're just a bitter old woman. You'll be jealous of me someday!" And just as he's about to hail a cab, she gives him a big nudge on the shoulder.

"Hey!"

-0-0-0-

Once they're in the cab, Jemma resumes her teasing to try and get infos out of him about what they're going to do tonight. He knows he should be annoyed by her insistance but he's not. He actually likes this new side of Jemma. At work she's always so serious and proper that she always makes him feel like he's a child being scolded by his big sister. So finding out that she can be just as childish as he is adds another thing on the growing pile of reasons in the "pro" section of his "Should I really date Jemma Simmons" virtual list.

"Jemma, i'm so disappointed in you, didn't think you could be so immature!" He says with a fake tone of exasperation as he pushes her hand from his knee.

"Hey, you're one to talk!" She says, slightly annoyed.

"I know, but I'm proud that the child in me is still so alive. That's how I'm able to create such cool gadgets." He says with a satisfied smile and she rolls her eyes."But seriously, I'm glad that you're capable of being as immature as I am. I like that new side of you." He says grabbing her hand to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She seems a little surprised by the gesture at first but after a few seconds, the biggest smile makes its way on her face. After that, they remain silent for the rest of the cab ride, just content to be in each other's company.

Fitz makes the cab stop a bit ahead of the theater to make the suspense last a little bit longer. It's only seven o'clock, which leaves them a comfortable half hour to collect the tickets Trip has left for them at the box office and maybe even grab a drink. When they finally stop in front of the theater, Jemma is speechless. She keeps looking from Fitz to the big poster at the entrance of the venue and then back to Fitz.

"Are we really ... When did you ... I mean How did you ...." She starts, her voice going a good octave higher from the excitement.

"... get tickets for David Tennant's Broadway show?" He says beaming.

"Yes! And on such short notice? ... Oh my god, are you really a wizard?" She asks, with the biggest smile on her face. Which only makes him smile even wider. "I mean, I tried to get tickets as soon as they were available online but I could never get one. How did you do it?" She asks, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket.

"Well, as much as I'd like to let you believe that I am a wizard, that's not how I got them. Do you know Antoine Tripplet, the guy who directed this play?"

"Oh yes, I've seen his previous play, it was brilliant. That's why I was even more frustrated that I didn't manage to get tickets. The both of them working together, it has to be amazing!"

"Oh good, because I actually have no idea if this play is any good but you know ... David Tennant!" He says with a bashful smile. "But anyway, it happens that Trip, Antoine Tripplet I mean, and I were in college together. We remained good friends since I helped him with a technical issue back then and he always said he owed me a big favor so ..."

"Wow. Thank you Fitz, that's amazing." She says getting closer to him.

"Wait for that, we still don't know if this play is any good." He says with a teasing grin.

"Well I'm sure it will be good but even if it wasn't I meant to thank you for the gesture. I love it that you put so much effort into this date and that you're willing to use this big favor for me. That's so-Fitz that's ...wow" She says as she takes his hands in hers with a tender expression in her eyes that makes him blush. He was pretty sure she'd like his idea but he didn't expect such an emotional response. When he shrugs his shoulders shyly, she gives him that other look he cannot quite decipher yet. But it must mean he did something good because it always precedes a kiss or a tender gesture. And this time makes no exception as she gets closer for a quick but passionate kiss that has his heart racing to an alarming rate in no time.

"Shall we go then?"

-0-0-0-

It seems that Trip didn't lie when he said that Fitz "saved his life" all these years back and that he owed him a really big favor because not only did he find them the best seats they could have hoped for, but he also put them in the VIP section where they had, amongst other things, access to an open bar. So as they're waiting for the show to begin while drinking a cup of champagne, Jemma talks to him about Trip's previous play and how much she liked it and he tells her funny stories about him when they were in college. As Jemma noticed recently, times passes really fast when they're talking to each other and soon enough it's time for them to go to their seats as the show is about to begin.

As she predicted, the show is really good. Even though, she mostly has eyes for David Tennant, she has to admit all the other comedians are really good which speaks about how good of a director Antoine Triplett is. It's a comedy but it also has really nice emotional moments. All in all, she spends a really good hour and a half. When the play is over and the lights are turned back on, she is surprised to see that, without even realizing it, she put her head on Fitz's shoulder and her hand is tangled with his between their seats. She's also surprised to see how natural it feels. It's not like they've been friends before and had time to develop this relationship, they had never had the smallest friendly gesture towards one another before a week ago and now it all comes so naturally that it almost scares her. After the mess that was her previous relationship, she doesn't want to jump into this one too fast but it feels like her heart doesn't really care what she decides to do or not.

As they are making their way towards the exit, an attractive dark-skinned man with a very distinctive southern accent catches up to them.

"Hey Fitz, dont leave so soon!" He says with a big warm smile on his face.

"Hey hi Trip! Great show, congratulations mate! Oh and thanks for the great seats, I didn't expect that much."

"Anything for my savior!" When Fitz sees Trip looking in Jemma's direction, he remembers he still hadn't introduced her yet so he proceeds before it gets awkward.

"Oh by the way, Trip this is Jemma Simmons, Jemma, this is Antoine Triplett." He says, smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Antoine. The play was really amazing, congratulations!" She says with a big smile as she's shaking his hand.

"Please call me Trip! Nice to meet you too Jemma."

Mmmh, maybe that's why they bonded in the first place, a common hatred of their first name!

"So you must be pretty special Jemma, I've been inviting this guy to all my shows for years, and this is the first time he actually came!" Trip adds and she can see Fitz blushing from the corner of her eyes.

"Oh I don't know. Am I?" She says looking at Fitz, a teasing glint in her eyes. He starts mumbling something but then Trip seems to catch up on the fact that the subject is making his friend uncomfortable so being the nice guy that he is, he cuts him off.

"So would you guys like to come have a drink with me and the cast later?"

"Oh yeah that'd be nice ... Jemma?" Fitz says as he turns to Jemma who is nodding to him with an ecstatic smile on her face.

"Jemma's in too I guess." He says to Trip with a big smile on his face.

"Ok, then we should be out in half an hour, I'll text you the name of the bar. Got to go now, see you later guys!" And with that Trip leaves them to go back through the "staff only" door he came through a minute ago.

-0-0-0-

As they make their way out of the theater holding hands, Fitz looks a little embarrassed and distracted and Jemma cannot find a reason why. Apart for the few awkward first minutes at her apartment, everything had gone incredibly well. What he had planned for their date has exceeded all her expectations and it seems that Fitz himself is every bit as amazing as she remembers him from last week-end. Everything he does that would have irritated her only a week ago now makes her want to laugh, hug him or just kiss him senseless!

"Is there something wrong Fitz?"

"Oh well ... hum ... it's just that I had a table booked at a nice restaurant nearby but there's no way we'll be able to eat in half an hour and I wouldn't want us to miss David Tennant. I'm sorry if I knew Trip was going to invite us for a drink I would have done things differently and ..."

"Fitz stop!" She says placing her hands on his shoulders and rolling her eyes at him with a fond look. "You're not seriously apologizing because we don't have the time to eat in a fancy restaurant before meeting David Tennant for a drink? DAVID FREAKING TENNANT Fitz!" She says and they both laugh at this. "Fitz, I really don't care where we eat, actually I don't care if we even eat at all! Let's just grab a burger or something. I don't want you to get all cocky about it, but whatever happens next, I can already say that this is probably one of the best dates I've ever had!" She adds with a beaming smile.

"Really?" He asks with a bashful smile.

"Yes Fitz." She replies with a fond smile as she presses a soft kiss to his cheek.

"So you're really willing to forget you super balanced healthy diet thing just to spend the evening with David Tennant?" He asks with a teasing grin.

"Like you're not as excited as I am." She says rolling her eyes at him. "And anyway, I'm sure I can find a very effective way of burning these carbs later tonight." She adds with a knowing look before walking away to get to the burger stand across the street, leaving Fitz grinning like an idiot.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters are relatively short so I thought I would be posting them together :)  
> After that there'll only be two other chapters and a short epilogue !

Since it's just the beginning of autumn, the weather is still nice so they decide to eat their burger on a bench nearby and just wait for Trip's message. As they're eating, they start talking about the project they're going to work on together. Just like the previous week-end, once they've started, there's no stopping them. More than once, they say the exact same thing at the same time and finish each other's sentences. At some point, they speak so fast that there probably isn't another person in the world that could understand them. When they get the text from Trip forty minutes later, they're both surprised that so much time has passed. The bar is just a few blocks away so they decide to walk there as they carry on with their conversation.

Once they get to the bar, Jemma is really excited and a bit nervous to meet David Tennant. She's a bit ashamed of it as it's not like her to act like a starstruck teenage girl but she just cannot help it. She also realizes that, in the mean time, she's a bit disappointed to have to put their conversation on hold.

"Ready?" He asks with a beaming smile as he's opening the door for her.

"Yes!" She says squeezing his shoulder before going in.

The playground is a nice place but it is also surprisingly not too fancy. It has a traditional irish pub feel to it that makes Jemma and Fitz quite comfortable and, for a saturday night, it's not too packed. Fitz catches sight of Trip at the back of the bar so he makes his way to him, followed by a nervously smiling Jemma.

"Hey Fitz my man, glad you two could make it!" He says while grabbing some chairs to let them both sit around the table they're occupying. "Everyone, that's Fitz, my genius engineer Scottish friend I was telling you about earlier and that's Jemma, his genius girlfriend." They both look at each other a little nervously at his use of this last word but they don't have the time to dwell on it as they get to shake hands with a few people around the table including David. At first they're a little intimidated by all those people but they soon realize that they're all really nice and manage to be included in the ongoing conversation quite easily.

An hour later, Jemma comes back from the bathroom to find Fitz and David deep in conversation about the lighting mechanism Fitz had designed for Trip years ago and that he is still using to this day. She can imagine how good it must feel for him to have someone so interested in his work so she stays back a bit as she doesn't want to interrupt them. Also, maybe it's the alcohol or just being in the presence of another Scotsman, but Fitz's and David's accents are thicker than ever and it's like one of her fantasies is taking life in front of her eyes and she cannot help smiling at this. Trip must be wondering why she's staying back because he choses this moment to come talk to her.  
"Hey, everything alright Jemma?" He asks with a sincere smile.

"Oh yeah, Fitz was deep in conversation with David, didn't want to interrupt!"

"Oh right. Do you know what they're talking about? Because they've gone full Scottish and I can't understand half of what they're saying!" He says grinning and they both laugh at this.

"Yeah I've actually heard worse if you can believe me. They're talking about that light mechanism you're using on stage."

"Oh right. Do you know that's how Fitz and I met?"

"Oh is that why you owed him such a big favor?" She asks with a mischievous grin, eager to know more about Fitz since they actually still haven't got the chance to share a lot about their family and youth except the part about Milton and his father.

"Yep! When I was studying to become a director, I had this idea for a really cool lighting mechanism to use for my final exam. I had been working with this guy that told me he could build this for me for a reasonable price. He wasn't really a professional but since I was a broke student, I didn't really have a choice but to trust him." He says, letting out a chuckle before continuing with his story. "But then, less than a week before my exam, the guy called me to tell me it wasn't doable! I was really pissed off about it and talking about it with a friend at the university cafeteria when this kid, that looked barely old enough to be in high school, turns to me and says that he could easily do it." He says with a big smile on his face and Jemma cannot help but smile fondly at the thought of a very young Fitz braving his shyness to speak to an older and probably much cooler student.  
"And before I had the time to say anything, he started explaining to me with a lot of details how he could do it and, even though I didn't understand everything, it felt like this little guy knew what he was talking about! So he built it in record time and he actually made it even better than what I had in mind. And he didn't even want money for it. Said he had fun doing it and we were all broke students anyway. And I'm still using it to this day!"

"Wow."

"I know right? He does these amazing things for you and then he seems to sincerely not realize how amazing it was. He can be a strange little guy sometimes but he has the biggest heart." Trip says with a fond smile.

"Yes, I think I'm starting to see that."She replies with a small smile. And she really means it. Her heart is starting to beat a little faster just by thinking of him now and it kind of scares her again. Even though Fitz seems to be the real deal and really just as good as he looks to be, she doesn't want to be disappointed again.

"I know it hasn't been long between you two and I don't want to make you uncomfortable but I really feel like you're special." He says with a knowing smile that makes Jemma blush. "He waited almost ten years to ask me for that favor and the way he looks at you when you speak ... damnnn!" Trip's southern accent get thicker on that last sentence and Jemma cannot help smiling at this. "I think he just never met a woman who was able to keep up with him before you!" he says with a teasing grin.

"Yes, I know the feeling!" She says with a knowing smile. Trip is about to add something but he's interrupted by one of the comedians who wants his opinion on something. So she takes this opportunity to join Fitz and David again and see if she can participate in the conversation.

-0-0-0-

Half an hour later, Fitz is at the bar waiting for his beer and the cocktail he ordered for Jemma while she is in a passionate conversation about the science of time and space travel with David Tennant. Fitz is totally absorbed by what he's reading on his phone and it doesn't go unnoticed by Trip who goes to him with a big teasing smile on his face.

"Hey man, stop playing Pokemon and come back to the table!"

"Haha that's hilarious Trip! I'm just waiting for our drinks." He says with a slightly annoyed tone that makes Trip smile even wider. "And I'm not playing Pokemon, I'm checking his wikipedia page to see if he's married, I don't like the way he's looking at her." Fitz mumbles under her breath.

"Come on man, you can't blame him, she's a very pretty and interesting girl .... hey don't look at me like that, I'm not that kind of guy and neither is David, who is happily married by the way!" Trip says holding his hands in front of him as Fitz relaxes a bit. "But man, you're really hooked pretty bad, aren't you?" He says with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah I guess ..." Fitz says as he realizes that yes, he is pretty crazy about her after only a week-end of passion but months of hating her. "You know, we met at work a few months ago and we hated each other but last week-end things changed quite ... radically." He adds, blushing at the memory. "And now I cannot think of anything else!" He finishes, his accent growing thicker like it does every time he gets excited about anything. Which makes Trip chuckle.

"Come on Fitz, it's a classic! A guy meets a pretty girl, they hate each other but there's an obvious sexual tension and they end up having sex in a ridiculously improbable situation and fall madly in love with each other." Fitz is about to say something but Trip cuts him off. "I know you're a gentleman and you won't say a thing but I can tell by your red face that I'm right about everything! I call dibs on directing the movie adaptation by the way ... I'll call it Nerd Love or something like that. Could even ask David to play your role. Jemma can play her own role, she's pretty enough!" He adds with a huge smile on his face.

"You're hilarious, really." Fitz answers as he's taking his drinks and starts walking to the table, but he cannot help the small smile that appears on her face when Jemma sees him approaching and beams at him.

I guess she must feel something too if she can take her eyes off David Tennant to smile at me that way.

-0-0-0-

Even though, they're really happy to have spent the evening with their favorite actor, especially since they both managed to have a real conversation with him, at some point they end up resuming their earliest conversation, getting a few amused looks from Trip when they start finishing each other's sentences again. After all, it's supposed to be their first date and they really want to spend more time alone.They both have so much fun that they don't notice how much time has passed until people start leaving the bar. When Fitz looks at his watch, he realizes it's already 2 am. Fitz looks at Jemma to silently ask her if she wants to go, and she seems to get what he means because she nods her head with a small smile and starts gathering her stuff.

After they said goodbye and thanked Trip for the great evening, they make their way out of the bar. The air outside has gotten a lot colder and Fitz sees that Jemma is shivering even with her own jacket on. So he doesn't hesitate to take off his own to put it on her shoulders, and envelops her in a tight hug which she is quick to reciprocate.

"But you'll be cold without your jacket!" She says, her voice a little muffled.

"Please, I'm Scottish, this is a hot summer day for me!" He says, without hesitating, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

They stay like this for a time, both enjoying each other's warmth until Fitz breaks the silence, his voice sounding a little nervous.

"So ... do you want me to get you a cab?"

"Fitz?" She says, stepping back a bit to look at him.

"Yes?"He answers looking back at her.

"You're coming home with me." She says with a look in her eyes that leaves no doubt in his mind about what that entails for the rest of the night. And he can only nod his head, unable to look away from her.


	13. Girlfriend?

They remain almost entirely silent during the whole cab ride to Jemma's apartment but the tension is palpable between them. At some point he grabs her hand and rests it on her thigh with his own. It is meant to be a sweet and romantic gesture from him but it feels like the skin he's touching is on fire. She doesn't know if it's the intoxicating smell of his cologne, hearing him speak with such a strong accent all evening or the totally indecent way he's looking at her right now, but it takes all her self control not to have her way with him right now in the back of this cab.

After what seems like an eternity, the cab finally stops in front of her building and they get out. She takes his hand to guide him inside. The moment they are through the door though, she cannot resist kissing him any longer. She pushes him against the wall and crashes her lips to his in a passionate kiss he eagerly responds to. His hands are on her waist, pulling her against him while her own hands go into his hair. When Fitz gently nips at her lips, she lets out an embarrassingly loud moan and she's glad at this moment that it's so late and that they have very few chances of seing any of her neighbors.

"What was that for?" He asks a little breathless when they break apart.

"This whole date I guess." She answers with hooded eyes and starts kissing and biting and licking his neck with renewed passion. As she's placating herself against him, she's starting to feel that she has the same effect on him that he has on her.

"Maybe we should ... get to your apartment" he says, his voice turned husky with arousal.

"Yeah, this might be safer." She says with a teasing smile, looking down to his pants, then back in his eyes.

She takes his hand again and leads the way, going up the stairs as fast as she can. When they're halfway between the first and second floor, he's the one who grabs her waist and pushes her to the wall to kiss her while his hands descend to grab her bottom, making her involuntarily arch into him. When he breaks the kiss, she looks at him with heavy eyes, panting.

"Sorry. it was just too tempting." He says with a cocky smile while he gives her ass one last squeeze, sending another wave of heat through her body.

"You're lucky you're cute." She says rolling her eyes as she climbs the few steps remaining to get to her floor.

When she gets to her apartment, she tries her best to find her keys as quickly as possible in her bag but it's kind of hard to concentrate when Fitz is behind her, pressing himself against her back and kissing her neck and shoulders and touching every part of her body that's accessible to him. After a minute or so, she finally manages to get her keys and unlock all of the three very annoying locks. It's a safe neighborhood right? Does she really need so much security?

The second they're inside, Jemma can finally forget all restraint and modesty as she tears off all of his clothes from him in record time and lets him do the same to her between heated kisses and caresses. She really liked how much he prolonged foreplay the last time, but this time she's not willing to wait so long to get him. So once they're free of all constraint, she pulls him with her against the wall and literally jumps into his arms to let him send her to heaven.

-0-0-0-

Later, that night, they are both laying on their back side by side in Jemma's bed, catching their breath.

"So ... it was nice to do it in a bed this time." He says turning his face to her and they both chuckle. "I mean, the first time was really fun, and kind of acrobatic, and the second time on the sofa was nice too, but the bed remains a classic, don't you think?" He adds with a cocky smile and she rolls her eyes at him.

"Yes, it was all very nice, obviously, but I'm really too tired to speak about anything now. And before you say that you could go another round, I can see that you have to fight to keep your eyes open!" She says with a soft smile, fighting to keep her own eyes open. "So how about we get some sleep now?" She asks, getting closer to rest her head on his chest.

"Alright, let's sleep for a bit." He says wrapping his arm around her and fondly smiling as the lavender smell of her shampoo comes to his nose. "I just have one more question before we fall asleep. I know it will sound a little stupid, especially now after what we've just done, but since Trip brought it up, are you ..."

"Yes Fitz, I am your girlfriend." She says looking up at him with a small smile and he looks back at her with a smile of his own and a raised eyebrow. "And you are my boyfriend." She adds.  
With that he lays a soft kiss on her forehead and closes his eyes, already drifting to sleep with a small smile on his lips. She soon follows him to sleep, her breathing slowing down to the rhythm of his heart.

-0-0-0-

The next day, Jemma is the first one to wake up, early in the afternoon. She recalls how gentlemanly he's been since last week-end so she decides to do something nice for him too and brings him breakfast in bed. After that they stay in bed some more and it's already 3 pm when they decide they should at least try to get up and do something else before it gets dark. So they get up from the bed to go all the way to the sofa to watch old Doctor Who reruns all cooped up in each other's arms. Usually, with a new boyfriend, things don't go that way. So early in the relationship, she would probably gently ask him to leave so she could get to work and go about her usual planning for a sunday afternoon. Or if she was really hooked, she would propose something more glamorous and romantic like a walk in the park or a movie. But with Fitz, she doesn't want him to leave and she doesn't feel the need to show him how sophisticated she could be. She is just perfectly content to do with him what she would probably have done on her own. It's strangely domestic, like they've been together for years but with all the perks of a very new relationship and she finds that she likes that a lot.

-0-0-0-

When it starts to get dark, Fitz has to make a decision. They had decided to keep their relationship a secret from the people they worked with for now. It was allowed for them to be a couple at SciTech but they would have to go through an interview with the head of their department to talk about it and considering how it went the last time they've both been in his office, Jemma wasn't ready just yet. Also, considering what their relationship had been only ten days ago, they feel like that they don't want to deal with all the questions and all the gossip before they had the chance to see how they were doing in the slightly longer term. So that means that Fitz will have to go back to his place at some point before going to work the following day. They cannot arrive at work together with him wearing his crumpled suit from last night. The reasonable thing would be to go now so he can get a good night's sleep, alone in his bed, and start the week fresh. But when Jemma proposes to cook pasta for both of them, he decides that he can have a good night's sleep at her place just as well and he'll just have to go to bed earlier than usual. Of course, none of that happens. They watch Doctor Who until really late and when Fitz carries Jemma to the bed, it's not at all to have a good night's sleep. So the next morning, Fitz has to get up at an insanely early hour to get to his place before going to work. He's more exhausted than he's ever been but that doesn't stop him from smiling all the way.


	14. Next step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter contains my favorite scene of the whole story. Hope you'll like it as much as I do :)

The next few following weeks go by in a blur. They spend more nights together than not. Except when Jemma spends the evening with Skye or when he spends the very occasional evening with his engineering team, Fitz cannot see a reason not to be with her. At first, Fitz remained nervous and slightly afraid that they would somehow go back to their old dynamic and realize that their couple wouldn't work in the long term. But as time passes, things only get better. They never run out of things to discuss and Fitz feels like he's finally found someone who could not only understand him but also challenge him intellectually. On a physical level, he just can never get enough of her, and from what she dares to do when they're working at Scitech and thinks no one is watching, the feeling is apparently reciprocated. And appart from the obvious physical attraction between them, he also feels that someday his heart is going to burst from all the tenderness he's feeling for her. Every little thing she does that he used to find annoying, he now finds adorable and he just wants to hold her in his arms all the time. That's why he likes the evenings they spend on her sofa watching old sci-fi shows on TV so much. At work, the project they are working on together is advancing at an even higher pace than they anticipated and they're being praised by their colleagues and superiors alike.

All in all, things couldn't be more perfect except for one. Jemma keeps insisting on keeping their relationship a secret. They both agreed that it would be best at first but, at least from his point of view, their relationship has evolved in the best way possible and things are getting serious pretty fast. They will have to tell their friends and coworkers at some point and Fitz sees no reason to delay the news anymore ... except of course if Jemma doesn't feel as strongly as him concerning their relationship.

"Fitz, did you hear me?" Jemma says in a soft voice.

"Sorry, no, I was lost in thoughts. What did you say?" He answers, still not looking at her.

"I was asking if you checked my calculations." She says her brows furrowing at the slightly cold tone of his voice.

"Calculations? Oh yeah, it's all good as always." He says, trying to sound a little more cheerful but clearly nor succeeding.

"Fitz, is there something wrong?" She asks getting closer to him so as not to be heard by anyone else.

"No, I'm fine ..." He starts almost automatically. They never had a single fight since they got together, not counting their bickering at work that ended up being foreplay for the most amazing sex most of the time now, and he doesn't want to be the one to start one. But when she looks at him, unconvinced, he decides to tell her what's on his mind before it gets even worse. "...well yes, there is, it's this." He says as he gestures to both of them.

"I don't under ... what do you mean Fitz?" The worry now evident in her voice and he sees how she might have misunderstood what he just said.

"I don't mean us Jemma, I mean the way you get closer and speak lower when the conversation gets personal, and the fact that you have to make up lies to have lunch with me instead of Skye, and the way I'm not allowed to be too friendly when other people are around. It's not like I want to snog you in the middle of our lab, but if we told everyone about our relationship, we could just hold hands when we walk through the doors in the morning and go for a drink with our friends as a couple, things like that ..." He says trying his best not to sound too angry and Jemma looks at him with a slightly sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry, all of this sounds really nice and I want that too, i really do. I just need a little more time. I'm not ready to face Fury again. And I still need to find a way to tell Skye about us. She's going to be really pissed when she finds out I kept this hidden from her for so long." She says with an apologetic smile.

"Well all the more reasons to tell her now. The longer you wait, the worse it's gonna get." He says, his face relaxing a bit.

"It's been too long already so I need to find the right way to do it. Knowing Skye, probably involving a lot of alcohol and gossip. You just need to be patient for a little longer." She says with a tentative smile. And even though he's still a bit upset, he cannot resist her for very long and she can see right through him.

"Please Fitz. I'll make it up to you, I promise." She says her tone now getting seductive and he can't help his lips from quirking up a bit. She takes this as a positive sign so, after checking that no one is close to their laboratory, she pushes him to the corner of the room that's mostly hidden by a big metal cupboard and kisses him passionately. When her hands go to his hair and she deepens the kiss, he can feel his resolves melting away.

"You know, using sex to get out of an argument won't always work." He says breathlessly when they break the kiss, his smile kind of contradicting his words.

"But it does now, right?" She says in a husky voice that makes him want to kiss her again. "Also, you have to admit it's kind of exciting to have a secret relationship." She adds before kissing him again.

This time he puts his hands in her hair in a way that he knows drives her crazy and it's only when she lets out a loud moan that he breaks the kiss and walks back to his work station like nothing just happened. When she looks at him breathless and confused, he says with the biggest grin: "You're not the only one who can use sex."

She gives him a very irritated look but then quickly recovers and as she walks back to her own working station, she says in a very detached voice: "You're right, I shouldn't try to use my feminine wiles, that's why I probably won't wear that nice new little thing I bought for our dinner tonight." With that, she gives him the most innocent smile he's ever seen on her and goes back to work.

Evil woman. She knows I won't be able to think of anything else until I know what that thing is. Maybe, she really is a witch.

-0-0-0-

"Is there something wrong mate?"

Fitz is slightly startled by the voice of his roommate Lance Hunter. Fitz had decided to leave work early to have the time to go home, take a shower and change clothes before meeting Jemma at the restaurant. It's not a special occasion or anything since they've only been dating for three weeks. They just felt like eating at this nice place where Fitz had a reservation for their first date since things didn't go as planned that time. But Fitz had been thinking a lot all day, and the last few days before that if he's being totally honest, and had come to the conclusion that tonight might be the perfect opportunity for what he has planned. Which made him navigate all day from excitement to nervousness to pure panic.

"I'm gonna tell her tonight." He blurts out the words and he's lucky Hunter is used to his mumbling because most people wouldn't have gotten a word of what he just said.

"Tell her what?" Hunter asks with a confused look.

"That I love her." He says, slightly blushing.

"Haven't you already?" Hunter says with a raised eyebrow and Fitz is a little disappointed at his absence of reaction to what seems like the biggest news ever to him.

"Well of course not or I wouldn't be so bloody nervous!" Fitz says, his accent getting thicker with irritation.

"Hey, calm down mate, don't go all Scottish on me! It's just you two, you're so ... you know, you'd make me sick if you weren't so bloody adorable, so I figured you'd said it a long time ago."

With that, Fitz relaxes a bit and can't help smiling at Hunter's kind of compliment. Except for Trip, Hunter is the only one of his friends who have met Jemma. Being his roommate, it would have been complicated not to introduce them anyway, and since Hunter's line of work is very far away from their work at SciTech, Jemma didn't mind meeting him. It was also a relief to have someone to talk to about Jemma. Hunter was quite different from Fitz, a lot more confident and he made friends quite easily. That's why Fitz was grateful that he made the effort to get to know him when they moved in together. They met through a classified adds back when Fitz was finishing college and starting his first job six years ago. Back then, he didn't make enough money to pay a rent on his own and he liked that Hunter was British, it made their flat feel a bit more like home somehow. Fitz was extremely shy at the time and it would have been easier for Hunter to just ignore him, but the day he moved in, he came with two packs of beers he shared with Fitz. At the end of the night, they were both really drunk but Hunter had managed to make Fitz open up a bit and discover that he could be a lot of fun to be around once he lowered his inhibitions.

"Well, I haven't. It dawned on me a few days ago..."

"Oh was that when you two thought you were alone and she ..."

"No! ... no, no no ... Anyway, I realized it only a few days ago but I think I've been in love with her pretty much since we started dating." He says with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Well, good for you mate, no need to be nervous anyway, I think it's pretty obvious she feels the same way!" Hunter says with a little teasing grin.

"Yeah well I'm not so sure, she keeps insisting that we keep our relationship secret at work and it feels like she's just making up excuses for it. I was okay with it at first but if she felt like me, don't you think she'd want people to know?" He says, getting nervous again.

"Well, I don't know mate, she looks pretty hooked to me and I'm not often wrong about those things. But you should tell her anyway. if she really doesn't feel the same, but I really doubt that's the case, at least you'll know and you'll have all the infos to decide where to go with this relationship."

"Yeah I guess you're right, that was very ... wise of you!" He says, grinning.

"Well, don't be so surprised!" Hunter answers, looking offended, which makes Fitz grin even wider.

"Sorry! Well anyway got to go, wish me luck!" He says as he's getting up from the sofa and makes his way to the door without giving Hunter the time to say good luck or anything else.

-0-0-0-

Even though they've been together for a few weeks and they're getting very close very fast, Jemma still feels a bit nervous when she's waiting for Fitz in such a fancy restaurant. She knows he just wanted to take her there since they couldn't make it on their first official date, and like pretty much everything he does, she finds the gesture adorable. But somehow, she cannot shake the feeling that something important is going to happen. So of course, when she went back home after work, she felt the need to go through all of her wardrobe to find the perfect outfit, but still managed to get here early.

Apparently, Fitz must have been quite nervous too, because he arrives only five minutes after her, so the waiter asks them to wait at the bar until they can get their table.

"You look amazing ... as always!" He says with a big smile before placing a soft kiss on her lips, making her blush and shyly smile back at him.

She's glad for her choice of clothing, a red dress that's not too short, just above the knee but that's got quite a deep cleavage she's not comfortable wearing most of the time. But she didn't have a boyfriend for a while and she quite appreciates the looks of adoration Fitz gives her every time he sees her in something different. But then again, it's not like she has to make such an effort since seeing her wearing his shirt for breakfast a week ago drove him totally crazy and made them both very late for work.

"So is that the nice little thing you were talking about earlier?" He asks with a knowing smile.

"Oh no, I had this for a while, didn't have many occasions to wear it though." She says with a mischievous smile.

"Oh ... so you really decided not to wear it." He answers, visibly disappointed.

"Oh no I'm wearing it, it's just not visible right now ..." She says with an even more mischievous smile.

"Oh, you're evil, you know I'm not gonna be able to think about ..." He starts but she's suddenly looking behind him with a very nervous look.

"Oh my god, is that Skye with Lincoln?" She says her voice getting higher. So he automatically turns around to see if Skye and Lincoln are actually there.

"Don't turn around, they'll see you! That was a rhetorical question, I know it's them!" She says with an annoyed tone in her voice.

"Hey no need to snap at me, it's not my fault they chose the same restaurant as us!" He says, visibly hurt.

"I'm sorry, Fitz" She says taking his hand and subtly making them turn around in the hope that Skye won't see her if she has her back turned. "It's just, you know I haven't told Skye yet, and she cannot learn that way, she'll be pissed at me."

"Well I don't see that you have much of a choice now. The bar isn't that big or crowded anyway, they're bound to see us at some point!" He says, getting slightly annoyed himself.

"Well we could just get out, I'm sure we can find a really nice place to eat, we'll have plenty of occasions to come back here I'm sure!" She says with a tentative smile, trying to defuse the tension but clearly not succeeding from the visibly growing irritation on Fitz's face.

"Well as ridiculous as it sounds, I'd be willing to do that for you but it's too late, she's seen us and she's coming towards us now. So I hope you've started working on how you want to tell her because the time has come." He says, whispering while keeping a tense smile.

"Jemma, what is happening here?" As she hears the very surprised voice of her friend, Jemma has no choice but to turn around to face her.

She's just surprised, this could be worse, she could be angry ... Or she's just not angry yet.

"Oh Hello Skye, didn't know your date with Lincoln was tonight." She says in a cheery voice, like nothing was weird.

"And I certainly didn't know your date with Fitz was tonight. Well of course I didn't know there was a date planned at all. When you said things were better between you too, I didn't think they were that good." She says with a very sarcastic tone.

And now she's angry.

"Oh no, that's not what you think, we're here to discuss work, you know that project we have together is getting quite big and ..."

At this point Fitz has his head in his hands, not wanting to see Jemma ridicule herself more than she already had.

"Sure, you're here to talk work, wearing your boob enhancing dress in the most romantic restaurant in town with Fitz, looking himself ... quite handsome if I'm being honest, but that's not the point. How long has this been going on? It doesn't look like it's the first time ... Why didn't you tell me?" Skye says, crossing her arms.

"No no no Skye I swear ..."

"Jemma, stop it, it's getting ridiculous" Fitz cuts her off. "You're a terrible liar in a normal situation but now there's just no chance she's ..."

"Fitz, what are you talking about?" She says, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Which seems to bring him over the edge as his voice suddenly takes an angry tone when he says: "Okay, that's it I'm done. Even now that you've been caught red handed, you cannot assume our relationship in front of your friend ..."

"No Fitz, it's not like that, I ..." She starts but he interrupts her one more time. At this point, Skye looks like she's bursting with questions but even she knows when is not a good time to meddle so she takes a step back but keeps following the conversation between them like she's watching a tennis match.

"You know what, don't worry, I'm gonna go. I cannot be with someone who's ashamed of being with me, especially when I ... well whatever, doesn't matter now." He says as he starts to make his way out of the bar before the tears that are forming in his eyes start to fall.

Especially when he what? No no no, this cannot be happening, I cannot lose him.

"Fitz wait! I'm not ashamed of you, I love you." She blurts out louder than she intended.

"What?" He says, turning around with a completely stunned look on his face.

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

Jemma's eyes are locked on Fitz's at the moment and she couldn't care less about anyone in this room right now except him. But still, she cannot help but think she clearly caught someone's else voice appart from Skye's and Lincoln's. So she turns to her left and her look turns to horror in a second when she sees it came from Nick Fury. Fitz must have followed her eyes because he suddenly blurts out with an irritated tone: "Oh come on, is all of Scitech eating at this restaurant? Is there anyone else who wishes to participate in this conversation?"

Someone shyly lifts his hand up, takes a step towards them from a darkened corner of the bar and says with an amused smile: "Hey I'm Phil Coulson, but I'm new at Scitech so I haven't met you guys yet. But you look like such a cute couple and I love the whole secret romance thing, feels like watching a movie! I hope you guys solve your problems."

"Well, if you do, I'll need to see you in my office on monday" Nick Fury adds, grinning before leaving the bar area.

"Well that was terrifying. Oh and thank you Phil, nice to meet you, I'm Jemma." Jemma says, her english politeness taking over. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like a moment alone with Fitz." She says taking his hand to lead him as far away from the others as possible.

"Fitz, I mean it I'm sorry. I've never been ashamed of you. Actually I was scared by how fast things were going between us, especially considering how we started. You know my last relationship was a disaster and you're just so ... perfect, so I wanted to keep things just the way they were. I was afraid that you were just too good to be true and that things might change if this became official. And I was scared by how ... easy it was to fall in love with you. But I don't care about all of this now, I just don't want to lose you. I love you and I want to be with you ... if you still want to." She says this so fast that she's almost panting when she's over, the tears actually falling from her eyes.

Fitz is looking at her with a very intense look she cannot quite decipher but he doesn't move or say anything and now she's scared that she's messed things up completely. Maybe her feelings are not at all reciprocated and she totally misread all his affectionate gestures and his insistance on telling her friends about their relationship.

"Fitz, say something please, even if ..."

But she doesn't have the time to finish her sentence as Fitz crashes his lips to hers. He takes her by the waist as he's pulling her to him and kisses her passionately. Jemma's hands go to gently caress his cheeks and she kisses him back with all she has. As always, Fitz's kiss makes her mind go completely blank as she loses herself in the delicious sensation of his tongue on hers. And she only realizes they're not alone as she vaguely catches Skye's completely gobsmacked expression when Fitz breaks the kiss.

"Of course I want to, I love you Jemma, I'm crazy about you, I've never felt like that for anyone ... But I'm really mad at you for saying it now, I was planning on doing it first." He says with a tender smile and they both laugh. "Really, I had a whole speech prepared, I knew exactly when I was going to say it, it was going to take your breath away." He adds, his smile now playful.

Crazy with happiness, Jemma cannot help cutting him off by taking him in her arms again for a tight hug and whispers in his ear again: "I love you so much." Which makes him hug her even tighter and slightly pull her off from the ground.

"Awwww you guys!" Skye lets out, ignoring Lincoln's hand trying to stop her. "Oh my god, Phil's right, it's like watching a movie, this is so exciting!" She adds clapping her hands in delight, all trace of anger gone from her voice now. "I knew you two were made for each other!"

Jemma and Fitz both nod their head at the same time, blushing furiously but with a big smile on their faces.

"Listen, I'm gonna leave you be for now because you're just too adorable for me to stay mad and I'm a sucker for impossible love stories but you have to at least tell me how long this has been going." She says with a big smile but watching Jemma with a look she intends to be intimidating.

"Mmmhh ... since the wedding." Jemma says, almost whispering like she hoped Skye wouldn't hear her.

"What? But you told me that nothing happened at that wedding!" Skye says, almost screaming.

"No, actually I said I didn't meet anyone at the wedding and it's technically true since I already knew Fitz." Jemma says with a small smile.

"You sneaky little minx! Okay fine, I'll let you go with that for now because I'm starving and I'm afraid Lincoln is going to leave me for Phil here. But girl's night tomorrow Jemma, and I want to know EVERY. LITTLE. DETAIL." Skye says as she goes back to Lincoln who is now somehow in a passionate conversation with Phil about Terminator.

Five minutes later, Jemma and Fitz leave the bar area to go to their table. They can't help noticing the amused or tender smiles from a few customers who witnessed their little scene as they walk through the restaurant. This makes them blush furiously but it's like they're both physically incapable of wiping the smile off their faces. As they get to their table and Fitz feels like they're far enough from Skye, he asks:

"You're not really gonna tell her every detail, right?"

"Oh no, don't worry. I would never do such a thing!"


	15. Interrogation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here are the last two chapters for this story :)   
> Hope you liked it and how I decided to end it !  
> And thanks everyone for the nice comments and all the kuddos :)

At 6 pm the next day, Jemma finally forces herself out of Fitz's apartment to go home and prepare for the girl's night with Skye. It's not like she doesn't want to spend time with her friend because she really does. She had been spending less time with her these past weeks, being quite occupied with Fitz and simultaneously not wanting to let slip anything about him. So it's going to be really nice finally being able to talk about the best relationship she's ever had. But she knows there's also going to be a lot of passive agressive comments on the fact that she didn't tell her, a lot of teasing because she fell in love with the guy she spent months criticizing and, really, a lot of inappropriate questions. There's also another fact that she's a bit ashamed of, being the modern independent woman that she is.

"I'm gonna miiiiiss you!" Jemma says, pouting while Fitz is leading her to the door.

"Come on, you managed to go whole week-ends without me before, right?" He says with a cheeky grin while encircling her waist with his arms.

"Well of course!" She says rolling her eyes. "But I hated you back then."

"Oh that's right, almost forgot ... because you looooove me now."He singsongs as she tries to escape his arms in fake exasperation. But he catches her back and whispers a gentle "And I love you more" into her ear before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Though before he has the time to pull back, she kisses him back, deepening the kiss passionately before breaking it, leaving him breathless.

"And are you going to miss me too?" She asks, biting her lip.

"Definitely..." He says looking at her a little stunned. "You don't know how much I regret agreeing to spend all sunday playing rugby with Hunter and his friends. I hate rugby. People always assume because I'm Scottish I should like it. But I hate it and I hate sports. Couldn't we just stay at my place and watch Doctor Who all day?" He says and she cannot help smiling at the sincere desperation in his voice.

"No you have to go or they're gonna say it's my fault, I don't want to be that kind of girlfriend." She says as she starts opening the door before he can lure her in again.

"Also, someday you'll have to explain to me how you manage to have that body with your eating habits and your total lack of any physical activity." She says with a raised eyebrow.

"Well ..." He says with a glint in his eyes. "If you have some time before meeting your friends, I can show you how I stay in shape."

-0-0-0-

Jemma knows she is in trouble the moment she opens the door. She had decided to invite Skye at her place. The young woman had always loved her cooking and it wasn't a bad idea to put her in a good mood. Also, at home, there were fewer risks of Skye making her do or say something stupid once she's had a few drinks. She also thought she was mentally prepared to answer Skye's questions. She would actually enjoy telling her about the sweet romantic parts of their story and Skye would like hearing about them. She would also have to give out a few details, but nothing she or Fitz would be uncomfortable with. And there really was nothing to be ashamed of anyway.

So it is with a reasonable amount of confidence that she goes to open the door for her friend. But said confidence soon falters when she sees that Skye didn't come alone but brought their friend Bobbi with her.

"Surprise!" Skye says with a slightly mischievous smile.

"Hello ladies!" Jemma says, trying to hide her nervousness. "Bobbi, it's so good to see you, it's been a while!"

"Hello Jemma, hope you don't mind me coming unannounced?" The tall blonde woman asks with a sincere smile.

"Of course no, come on in." She says as the two young women come in and Skye gives Jemma the most innocent smile she can muster.

Bobbi is an old friend from SciTech. She doesn't work there anymore but the three women had always remained good friends. Jemma is really happy to see her since they haven't seen each other for a few months, Bobbi's new job making her travel a lot. But she also knows that even if Bobbi isn't in on it, Skye definitely has something on her mind and the reason she invited their friend isn't completely innocent. Jemma and Skye had often joked about the fact that she was really an undercover spy. She had this gift for getting informations out of anyone. She wasn't scary or menacing really, even though her physique was quite impressive, especially compared to Skye and Jemma's petite figures, but she somehow made you feel like it wasn't a good idea to get on her bad side. Skye also thought she used some kind of Jedi mind trick to make you think you wanted to tell her things. But whatever it really was, it worked.

Once they're settled on Jemma's couch with a glass of wine each, Jemma tries to think of something to say to bring the conversation towards Skye's or Bobbi's direction but she is cut off before she has the time to talk.

"So I hear someone here has a new secret boyfriend." Bobbi says with a big smile as she turns to Jemma.

So it begins.

-0-0-0-

"So he carried you all the way to the hotel in his little arms?" Skye asks with a teasing smile.

"Yes and I'll have you know his arms are not that small and his shoulders are a lot larger than they appear when he's fully clothed!"

"Then, he took off your shoes, gave you his shirt and took off your earrings so you wouldn't hurt yourself?"

"Yep!"

"Then he tucked you into bed and brought you breakfast the next morning?"

"Yes." Jemma says, smiling fondly at the memory.

"Without expecting anything in return ?" Skye asks incredulous.

"Of course not. I'm telling you, he really is that sweet!" Jemma answers, a little offended.

"Wow! I guess I would have slept with him too!"

"Yeah me too!" Bobbi adds.

"Hey!" Jemma says with an offended tone but she's actually really glad that her friends are able to see him for the wonderful man that he is. Especially when she had been the one to tell them such horrible things about him not so long ago.

"Anyway, yes that was quite adorable and at this point, I was starting to realize that he was not as bad as I thought and even pretty amazing actually." She says trying to ignore the cooing noises from her friends. "But I didn't jump his bones on the spot, I waited until ..."

"Until you had a real date, yeah I know you like to let the tension ..."

"... later that evening." Jemma finishes, her voice barely a whisper.

"WHAT?"

"Jemma, you naughty girl!" Bobbi adds with a big smile on her face while Skye is now clapping her hands in delight.

"So you finally put that room to good use." Skye says grinning madly.

"Well yes but ..." Jemma starts, now furiously blushing at the memories.

"What Jemma? Oh my god, this is so exciting! Is it normal that I'm even more excited by this than by my own relationship with Lincoln?" Skye asks as she flops down even deeper into the sofa.

"Well from all the details we didn't want to hear about, you already seem quite excited about Lincoln." Bobbi says, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah you're right, he's pretty great ..." Skye says, smiling again.

"Oh that's great Skye, so things are really good between you two, right?" Jemma asks with a sincere smile, but also seing an opportunity to get out of a discussion that was going in a direction she's not really comfortable with.

"Oh no no no, you're not getting away that easy. We want the rest of the story and I deserve it since you kept it from me for weeks. So you were saying that you put the hotel room to good use but ..." she answers looking at her friend with a raised eyebrow.

Argh, It's way too easy to make me feel guilty, I've got to get tougher than that.

"... but that was not the first time ..."

"What ... You mean that you did it during the reception? But where?" At this point, Skye's grin couldn't possibly get bigger.

"... In some sort of closet." Jemma says in a voice that couldn't possibly get any lower but after seing the looks of pure delight she gets from her friend, she can't help smiling too. They've always seen her as the serious girl who likes to play by the rules. And most of the time she is, so she feels strangely proud to be able to do something wild once in a while.

"Wow ... and with Fitz too ..." Skye says with an incredulous look. "I mean, don't get me wrong, he's really cute and his accent is kind of charming but I never thought he could inspire so much ... passion." she adds when Bobbi gives her a questioning look.

Jemma knows she's fishing for details but that doesn't stop her from taking the bait.

"Well, he's a really good kisser and I mean really really good and then there's his hands." She says smiling mischievously.

"What about his hands?" Bobbi asks, looking at Skye who looks as clueless as she is.

"Well, let's just say he's an engineer and he knows how to use them and that's all the details you're gonna get." Jemma says with a satisfied smile when she sees the stunned faces of her friends.

"We'll see about that." Skye says under her breath.

"Anyway, it was all kinds of amazing but I didn't do it out of pure lust. Believe it or not, I felt a real connection with him and was on the impression that this could be something really good and I was right." Jemma adds with a dreamy smile.

"So are you already planning the wedding?" Bobbi jokes. But when Jemma looks down with a slightly embarrassed smile instead of laughing, Skye's mind starts to go crazy.

"What? Did he actually ask you to marry him? If you hid that from me too I'm gonna ..." She starts but Jemma cuts her off.

"No of course no, we admited that we love each other only yesterday. But now that you mention it ... if he did, I would actually consider it. It's crazy right?" She says blushing as she knows it's not at all in her character to do something like that.

"Wow" Skye and Bobbi say at the same time.

"Kinda crazy yes." Skye adds. "But I still call dibs for maid of honor." And with that they all burst out laughing.

"Well I think this calls for another bottle of wine dont you think girls?" Bobbi says and proceeds to open an another bottle without really waiting for an answer.

This is gonna be a long night.

-0-0-0-

Something is definitely wrong. Fitz had been counting and it was the third woman to smile at him since he arrived at SciTech. Not that it's something that never happens, he is on friendly terms with most people of his team and some from the other scientific divisions. But what bothers him is the specific women who smiled at him. First there was the receptionist. When he started working at SciTech, he had a little crush on her. Once, he tried to flirt by making science jokes and she looked at him like he had two heads. After that, he tried to avoid her the best he could and she acted like he was invisible anyway. And now she was suddenly remembering his name and smiling at him. Then when he took the lift, there was this woman he had seen a few times with Skye and Jemma, he didn't know her name and they never spoke. But this morning, she said "Hello Fitz" with a big smile. How did she know his name? And why did she smile at him? Then there had been the scariest one, Melinda May ...

Fitz is interrupted in his musings by Jemma hugging him from behind, making him jump.

"Oh bloody hell ... you almost gave me a heart attack!" He says, turning around to face her. But when he sees her slightly disappointed face, he feels immediately sorry for snapping at her. "Sorry, you just startled me is all, don't be mad." He says as he quickly takes a look around before kissing her and taking her in his arms. When he feels her relax, he whispers in her ear: "I've missed you a lot."

When she pulls back, she has a big smile on her face. "I missed you too, almost forgot how sexy you are since the last time I saw you." She says with a teasing grin.

"That seems to be a popular opinion today." He says, grinning back.

"What do you mean?" She asks, confused.

"People are smiling at me today, it's weird." He says in a conspirational voice and she chuckles.

"People do that quite often Fitz, I think you can relax, it's a little early to suspect an alien invasion." She says while she goes to the little kitchen area of their lab to prepare some tea and he follows her.

"That's hilarious Jemma! But seriously there was Raina, the receptionist, she usually ignores me and now she smiles and calls me by my name. Which is big coming from her."

"Maybe after all these months, she finally understood your joke and realized how funny you are!" Jemma says with a grin but Fitz swears he can see a glint of something else in her eyes.

"Ha ha! And there's this woman I've seen you with a few times, I don't even know her name, I think she works in management or something, she smiled and she called me by my name too." He adds and Jemma starts to look a little concerned.

"Oh you mean Maria?"

"Yeah maybe, i don't know. And then, there was Melinda May. She actually answered me when I said hello when we crossed path. That never happened Jemma. I think it's the first time I heard her voice since I started working here. And then I could swear I saw a smile on her face as she walked away! A SMILE Jemma, ON MELINDA MAY'S FACE!"

"Oh don't exaggerate Fitz, Melinda's a nice person once you get to know her. Skye and I are quite good friends with her in fact." Jemma says with a smile but now she's definitely starting to look worried.

"Well maybe after a few years but until today, I was starting to think that I had developed the ability to be invisible to certain women here. Anyway, at first I thought news of our relationship had spread and those were just knowing looks and maybe people fishing for gossip." He says rolling his eyes. "But I don't think May is the type and then there were the guys too." He adds with a very confused look in his eyes.

"What, guys are flirting with you too?" She asks, grinning.

"Haha again! No first, this weird guy at security, Ward, he said "Well done kid" and winked at me ..." Fitz starts.

"Well sounds like he just knows about us, I'll have you know I'm quite a catch." She says looking at him with a seductive grin.

"I know that my love." He says without really thinking about it and she melts at his choice of words.

"Aww, I could get used to that you know." She says getting closer and kissing him fully on the lips.

"I'll remember that." He says a little breathless as she pulls back. "And then there was Lincoln who said that me and him should talk over a beer or something. I mean he's nice enough but I don't know him much and he was there Friday and he couldn't have looked more uninterested by our relationship. And suddenly, we need to have a beer together, there's something really .... Okay Jemma, what do you know?" He says, suddenly looking a little irritated.

"What? What do you mean Fitz?" She says, trying to look a relaxed.

"You've been trying to look relaxed for the last few minutes but do I have to remind you how bad you are at lying? You're avoiding eye contact and now you're blushing like crazy. It's really cold in this lab, you cannot blame it on the heat so what do you know?" He says, looking at her straight in the eyes, making her blush even more.

"No that's ridiculous Fitz, I don't know what ... okay fine, they might know a little bit more than the fact we're in a relationship." She says sheepishly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, all those people, they're directly or indirectly friends with Skye and you know we had a girl's night on Saturday and ... I might have let slip a few things about you." Fitz is now looking at her with a terrified expression.

"Oh so they're making fun of me, is that what you're telling me Jemma?"

"Fun of you, what do you mean? Why would they ... I don't unders ... " She starts but then it dawns on her what Fitz must have imagined. "Oh Fitz, we really need to work on your confidence. I thought I had made myself clear ... many times, a few of them just last friday." She says with a tentative smile and he looks at her completely confused.

"Fitz, if Skye told them what I told her, they weren't making fun of you, they were definitely flirting. Well the girls at least, and maybe Grant, who knows ... but not Lincoln ... well I hope not at least!"

"What ... Why ... what did you say?" He asks, starting to get where Jemma's going.

"Well, at first I managed to tell her only nice romantic stuff about us, our first date and everything and how wonderful you were and I was quite proud of myself. But then my friend Bobbi was there too and they brought wine and I swear she has magic powers to get people talking. So they got me talking and I might have revealed a few things about our sex life." She says, her voice barely a whisper at the end of her last sentence.

"Oh my god Jemma, I'm working with these people! I don't want them to know those things." Fitz says, his voice going an octave higher.

"Well, we're working together and you didn't mind doing those things to me ... not that I'm complaining." She says with a seductive smile and even if he's still a little angry, he can't help smiling at her words. She takes it as a good sign and gets closer to kiss him again.

As he pulls back, his smile get wider when he realizes that she kissed him without even checking out if anyone could see them. "Okay, I guess what's done is done. But can you at least tell me what you told them? So I know what everyone's smiling about." He says with a big sigh.

"Only good things ... that you are an excellent kisser, that you are very thoughtful and passionate ..."

"Okay, I can live with that." He says, grinning.

"That you were really good with your hands and that you were thebestsexi'veeverhad." She says as fast as she can like she's hoping the blush won't catch up to her.

"Jemma!" He cries out half shocked, half grinning.

"I'm sorry, they were kind of impressed and I got cocky." She adds, starting to blush and he looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "What? It's all true ..."

"Really?"

"Really! I don't know about you but even in the honeymoon phase, It's never been so ... intense with my previous boyfriends." She says with a bashful smile.

"Well I never had any complaints but with you it's really special." He says, now smiling warmly at her. As she nods, she starts getting closer and puts her arms around his neck.

"Huh Jemma?" He asks, looking above her shoulder.

"Yes Fitz?"

"I don't want to sound paranoid but I think those girls on the other side of the lab are looking at us." He says with a tense smile.

"I know." She says with a big smile on her face.

"And you don't mind?" He asks, grinning.

"Well by now, everyone knows anyway ... and those bitches need to know you're mine." She answers to a wide eyed Fitz and before he has the time to say anything, she kisses him passionately.

As he revels in the feeling of her soft lips and warm body against him, he realizes that he's probably never been so popular in his life but also that he couldn't care less because he's holding the only person that matters in his arms.

-0-0-0-

"Okay it's getting really scary now." Jemma whispers.

"I know, do you think he's having a stroke or something?"

"I don't think so Fitz, I think we're just going to have to wait until it's over."

"Do you think we could live now, maybe he won't notice." Fitz says in a really low voice.

"No you two stay here, I'm not finished." Nick Fury says, finally calming down.

Jemma and Fitz had decided that since he knew about them now, they should go to Nick Fury's office as quickly as possible to get it over with. At least, it didn't look like he was angry at them at the restaurant so maybe it wouldn't as bad as they thought. When they got into the office they started by apologizing for not coming sooner and asked if they were in any kind of trouble. Since he remained perfectly silent, they started to ramble about how it must be surprising for everyone considering how their relationship started. And then at some point, he just burst out laughing and wouldn't stop for several minutes.

"Listen, I couldn't care less that you're together or that you didn't tell me. As a chief of department, I have to conduct those interviews but I always thought they were useless. As long as they're working fine, the private life of my employees doesn't concern me. Actually, since you stopped fighting, you two have been working even better so please don't break up." At that, they can't help exchanging a small smile. "But as your boss, I feel like I have to say this to you ... You were literally the last persons to realize you would end up together."

"What?"

"What do you mean sir?"

"I mean that you made me lose a big amount of money against Maria Hill. I said it would take you less than three months, she said less than six so she won!" As they're looking at him with wide eyes, he adds one last thing: "Now please do me a favor, don't wait too long to get married, I'm counting on you to get my money back."


	16. Epilogue

"Well I think that's it guys, that was the last box!" Fitz says as he flops down next to Jemma on their new couch.

The decision to move in together came naturally to them. There wasn't a big proposal or anything. After six months of spending every night in each other's apartment, half of Jemma's stuff was in Fitz's apartment and half of his stuff was in Jemma's. But one morning, two weeks ago, Fitz realized he had to leave her place really early because he forgot he had to wear a suit that day. So without really thinking about it, Jemma said how much simpler it would be if they lived together. And just like that, they agreed to it. The obvious choice was for Fitz to move in Jemma's apartment since it was the biggest one and she lived alone. At first, Fitz thought he would have to wait a little longer, to give Hunter the time to find another roommate but he found out that just like him, Hunter now made enough money to pay the rent on his own. They just both enjoyed living together so much that they never found a reason to move out, until now.

After a long day of carrying boxes and making several trips between Fitz's and Jemma's apartment, they're all too tired to get up from the couch so Fitz decides to order pizza for everyone. Once they finally revealed their relationship to all their friends, Fitz got to know Skye and all of Jemma's closest friends and to her delight, they all agreed that Fitz was quite a catch. Jemma already knew Hunter and Trip and she got to meet the few other people Fitz considered as friends. Then, after a time, her friends met his friends and everyone hit it off pretty well so when Fitz needed help moving in with Jemma, most of them came.  
But at the end of the day, most have gone home and Fitz and Jemma remain only with Hunter, Trip, Skye, Lincoln and Bobbi who's meeting Fitz and his friends for the first time since she hadn't been in New York since the girl's night. Fitz would have been a little mad at her for that infamous night but she turned out to be freakishly strong and managed to carry more boxes than anyone.

"Thank you again everyone, I promise we'll do a proper party once Fitz's stuff are all set up in our apartment. Skye, Lincoln, Bobbi, Hunter, Trip, I raise my glass to you." Jemma says while raising her plastic cup with a big smile on her face.

"TO US." They all say in unison while raising their own glass.

"Okay, guys I have to ask something!" Skye suddenly says while turning in the general direction of Fitz and his friends. "What is it with the family name stuff? Is that how you became friends? Because you all hate your first name or is it a secret club or something?" She asks with a teasing smile.

"Uh no Skye, that's not a good ..." Jemma starts with a slightly panicked look but Fitz cuts her off with a reassuring smile.

"No that's alright Jemma, I made my peace with it." He starts then he turns to Skye. "Actually I was named Leopold after my father. Even though it's never been the easiest name to have, i had nothing against it until my father left me and my mom. Then it kind of ruined it for me." He says with a teasing smile, trying not to sound too pathetic.

"Oh ..." Skye says looking embarrassed so Trip cuts her off.

"For me it's just that Antoine is not a very common name and the other kids made fun of me when I was young and no one really knew how to pronounce it properly anyway. So when my friends started calling me Trip, I let it stick."

"Okay, I'm sorry guys, I only meant to tease you, I didn't want to bring back bad memories. So now that I've ruined the mood anyway, Hunter what's your tragic story?" Skye says and they all turn to Hunter who's way to absorbed in his conversation with Bobbi to pay them any attention.

When Bobbi gives him a nudge on the elbow, he finally turns to Skye and asks: "Sorry, what did you ask me, love?"

Skye rolls her eyes at him and asks him again: "Why do you make people call you Hunter instead of Lance?"

"Oh, it just sounds cooler, don't you think?"

After a few seconds of silence, everyone just bursts out laughing. And after a few minutes of him asking why people are laughing, which only results in making them laugh even more, Fitz finally tells him why.

"Well, sorry for not having a tragic story to entertain you with guys!"

-0-0-0-

Two hours later, everyone is exhausted after the long day they had so they finally manage to get up from the couch and go home, leaving Fitz and Jemma alone in their apartment for the first time.

"So, did you notice that Hunter offered to give Bobbi a lift home even though they live in completely opposite parts of town?" Jemma asks as she lets herself fall on Fitz's lap and wraps her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, I've seen that. Somehow, I think he won't be too heartbroken after my moving out after all!" Fitz answers, rolling his eyes as he's putting his own arms around her waist.

"Awww, I'm sure he's gonna miss you a lot. How could he not?" She says with a big smile before capturing his lips in a passionate kiss.

"So, how about we leave this here and go directly to bed. We can start unpacking and clean everything up tomorrow." She says in a suggestive tone, her voice still breathless from the kiss.

"Sounds good to me ..." He says, gently pushing her to the side to get up. "But I'd like to open only one box before going to bed."

"What? Can't it wait tomorrow?" She asks in a pleading tone.

"No, I'd really like to do this now. It's a very small one, if you help me, I swear it's only gonna take a minute!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." She says, getting up with a big sigh. "So which one is it?"

"This one." He says as he extends his hand to reveal a small square dark red velvet box.

As she's finally starting to understand where this is going, she puts her hands before her mouth and looks at him, her eyes wider than they've ever been.

"Fitz, is that ..." She starts, her voice rendered literally breathless from the emotion.

"Just open it Jemma." He says with a smile, looking intensely into her eyes. And so she does, revealing a beautiful silver ring with delicate engraved designs on it and a small diamond in the middle. As tears are starting to well up in her eyes, he gets down on one knee.

"Jemma, will you make me the happiest man on Earth and agree to marry me?" He asks, his own voice shaky with emotion. The words are barely out of his mouth when Jemma lets herself fall to the ground and literally throws herself at him, enveloping him in a tight hug while she kisses him passionately. She puts so much force in it that she makes them both lose their balance and they end up all tangled with each other on the ground.

When they finally stop for air, Fitz asks with a big smile on his face and a few tears of joy rolling down his cheeks: "So, is that a yes?"

"Of course, yes Fitz, I love you so much!" She says beaming.

"I love you too Jemma, so much." He answers as he's slipping the ring on her finger.

"It's gorgeous Fitz, it's perfect, it's exactly what I would have chosen!" She says, her smile getting even bigger.

"Not as perfect as you are." He answers, almost automatically, unable of taking the smile off his face as he lays soft kisses on her knuckles.

"Aww. What did I do to deserve you?" She asks tenderly.

"I love that you're saying this with that tone now." He says with a teasing smile.

"Well, you did almost gave me a heart attack with that prank!" She says fondly rolling her eyes and remembering the last time she had said those exact words to him in a very different context and with very different implications.

"So you're really going to be my wife?" He asks, as he's getting up from the ground and extends his hand to help her.

"Yes" She starts but then her look goes from tender to playful. "With one condition though..." She adds with a mischievous smile.

"What?" He answers, looking confused.

"Oh you know what I'm thinking of Fitz..."

"No Jemma! What?" he answers, now starting to panic a little.

"You have to tell me how you did to get to the departures lounge before me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I didn't have an explanation in my head for how Fitz managed to get to the departure's lounge before Jemma, I always thought it should remain a mystery. But then back when I posted it on FF, people were asking so I started thinking about it. So here's how I see it: Fitz saw on Jemma's ticket that she was heading in that direction and being the competitive and childish guy that he is, he decided to race her. So he managed to convince a guy with of those airport cars to bring him there without Jemma seing him. And as he was in the car, he prepared his phone and book to be ready to get installed as soon as he arrived at his gate. And he actually got there just a minute before Jemma and just acted like he'd been there for hours.   
> If that doesn't sound believable to you, I'm open to suggestions and that could make a fun small companion fic to go with this one :)


End file.
